Vella Terra was born out of a need: to create an independent and international space for industry professionals and consumers, where local wineries and producers with decades of experience in other countries could share their work and give a voice to the natural wine movement.

The project began to take shape at the end of 2014, traveling across Europe and visiting wineries. At that time, there was no serious, international fair in Barcelona with real reach, information and distribution for consumers and hospitality were minimal, and there were hardly any national wineries working with this type of wine.

The first edition was held on May 9, 2016, bringing together 70 winegrowers from Spain, France, and Italy. In addition, we organized the first conference on natural wine and biodynamic agriculture for sommelier students from the Barcelona School of Hospitality, distributors, and hospitality professionals, with Nicolas Joly as host.

The first edition took place at the Poble Espanyol in Barcelona, an iconic location in the city, and brought together 70 winegrowers from Spain, France, and Italy. We also organized the first conference on natural wine and biodynamic agriculture for sommelier students from the Barcelona School of Hospitality, distributors, and hospitality professionals, with Nicolas Joly as host.

We broke the attendance record at that time among national and international industry professionals, buyers, and distributors, and welcomed a strong community of future sommeliers from the Barcelona School of Hospitality. In the following editions, up to 2020, we collaborated with this prestigious institution by training sommeliers on a volunteer basis in the first edition as well as in our second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth editions.

From our very first edition, we focused Vella Terra and its exhibitors not only on the national sphere but also on the international one, projecting natural wine beyond our borders. We connect wineries with clients, distributors, importers, hospitality professionals, sommeliers, and wine lovers from all over the world who visit us organically each year. Throughout the year, we also recommend these wineries to our community of subscribers, which has grown steadily over time.

We invite European producers with decades of experience to demonstrate that natural wine is not a trend, but a historical practice. With rigorous criteria and verification processes through wine analyses, we have contributed to supporting the growth of the sector and collaborating with experts in journalism, design, and audiovisual art.

We have spent a decade as a fully independent fair: we do not answer to associations, distributors, or importers, although we maintain direct contact with many of them, both nationally and internationally, and collaborate with all those who wish to bring seriousness and clarity to the movement.

We select exhibitors based on the quality of their wines and their fidelity to their methods of production, not on friendship, proximity, or personal connections. Those who do not meet our fair’s criteria or do not wish to present their analyses simply cannot participate in our events, because the responsibility of being a reference fair in the sector and our commitment to the seriousness and professionalism we owe to our attendees come first.

We are not a conventional fair, nor a technology event with a corner for artisanal wines. Nor are we a showroom disguised as a fair, and even less an entity that, under the excuse of being “non-profit,” is not accessible or transparent, rejects marketing while replicating every step of those of us who have spent years building this sector, offers no guarantees about who it showcases, demands to be believed without verification, and does not show a clear reinvestment of what it generates to truly support the sector.

We are a fair created by hospitality professionals and wine specialists that connects genuine producers who craft their natural wines with coherence and commitment. What defines us is showing what we do and how we do it — being present, transparent, and standing behind our work. Those who visit us know where to find us: we are approachable, accessible, and open.

We dedicate the income from each fair to building the next one, we meet our tax obligations, and we pay fair wages to the people who make each event possible. We are committed to providing real guarantees about who exhibits at our fair and to reinvesting what we generate to drive future editions and strengthen the community that makes them possible.

We invest in clear and honest communication. We create content and tools so that subscribers and industry professionals know months in advance who will participate in each edition, facilitating direct contact between wineries, distributors, and hospitality professionals. We maintain a functional and transparent website, designed to inform, not to decorate.

Our digital community is also a fundamental pillar: many professionals who cannot attend follow our selection and updates through our platforms and establish direct contact with wineries. Our selection and verification criteria, built over the years, have become a guarantee of trust for those deciding which projects to work with.

We know firsthand the uncertainty faced by many hospitality professionals and distributors, because we come from that world. That is why we have spent years building a strong community of independent winegrowers who say what they do and do what they say. At each edition, we verify their wines through analyses and visits to their wineries, to understand their projects and their way of working firsthand. To this network are added our professional subscribers: importers, distributors, hospitality professionals, sommeliers, and wine lovers who travel from across Spain and other countries to attend the fair.

We offer exhibitors and attendees a carefully curated and professional space: glasses, glass holders, ice buckets, assistance, table linen, and the right conditions so they can focus on what matters most—their work. We accompany each project with a process of research and verification that allows us to present coherent and responsible proposals to our community.

In 2018, we took a further step with the opening of Garage Bar, the first bar in the world born from an international natural wine fair. There, you can taste thousands of wines presented at Vella Terra, whether or not they are distributed in the city. With Garage Bar, we keep the community alive 365 days a year.

At Garage Bar, hospitality professionals from Barcelona, other cities in Spain, and the international scene come together—people we work with side by side—along with distributors with whom we maintain constant contact and producers who present their wines through tastings and gatherings. Throughout the year, thousands of natural wine lovers visit, making it a meeting point for the sector and the wider natural wine community.

Today, ten years later and with 11 editions behind us, Vella Terra has established itself as a national and global reference. Our experience, seriousness, and closeness set us apart. In 2023, while most fairs sought to add more wineries, we decided to reduce the number of exhibitors by half in order to offer an even more careful and professional tasting experience.

This is our history: facts, not words. Thank you for visiting us!