I have traveled through France and Italy, for work and pleasure: I work at the organization of the Vella Terra Barcelona natural wine fair, one of the largest fairs in Spain dedicated to the world of the natural wine, so I can say, with no doubt, and with a great happiness, that I travel simultaneously for both reasons.
In these countries and in its fairs I’m going to look for inspiration and I filled with experiences, to do something different, something personal, but it’s that really for all. In my opinion these countries are an example to follow regarding the movement of natural wine. Almost all the wine producing regions have a fair or event for the presentation and promotion of their natural wines and many of them originate spontaneously and independently of distributors or associations.
Many people ask us why the name VELLA TERRA, (which in the Catalan language, means Old Land), and as described by our great friend Laureano Serres Montagut of Celler Mendall, it has a lot to do with “The thing older than we have under our feet and what will remain when we have gone.” The Earth and old customs are our heritage, our identity and something we have to take care of.
There is no point of comparison, with regard to the quantity of independent and international fairs, that are celebrated in France or Italy with those of our country, although we have qualitatively the legendary H2O Vegetal, ours and little else, but I’m optimistic and blowing winds change.
Since with my colleague Stefano decided to create the Vella Terra Barcelona natural wine fair, our desire was to connect the producer of natural / low intervention wines, with the hostelry, the final consumer, distributors and associations that would like to participate.
A fair for the small producers of our region, summoned singularly and spontaneously, where the protagonist were themselves, away from any label and supported by the flag of well done work, thus creating a community that would reactivate consumption and donate gas to local distribution. Open, for the benefit of all, with organizers and visible workers, made by people of our city for the producers of our region, and of course, inviting the great international referents.
We knew that this meant a great economic and time investment, but it was just to create something where everyone had visibility: something for and in our city. We invested in spaces, in audiovisuals to promote the winemakers and we were pioners to use strategies in social networks as a tool for large-scale dissemination, which was an example for others.
A great family with the same love for the artisan product.
Personally, I never pretended that this idea was understood from the beginning without reluctance or distrust, but we knew that the only way to break the established schemas was that. This was how many natural wine producers joined us, and not only that, also projects of biodynamic olive oils, organic coffees, the world of natural agriculture and the best artisan bakers in the city also joined us and they gave us unconditional support.
Communicating and doing a professional, international and commissioned event in every detail to the measure of our city was not an easy task, but it was our premise and we organized an independent fair focused on the hostelry and the final consumer who are those who have to fall in love with the product.
Within our possibilities and with the collaboration of craftsmen of the natural wine – for years and until today – we offer activities and tastings with producers of natural wine: with the help of some establishments and hostels, – previously and later to the the Vella Terra Barcelona- natural wine fair, in our city and outside it; giving the word to the winegrowers and connecting them with those interested who came or who could be interested in the future.
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We connect with prestigious hostelry and tourism schools in our city, such as ESHOB or the School of Wine tourism of Catalonia so that they interact in our fair, being this a constant in our path: connect with relevant entities of our city, like Barcelona Turisme, Barcelona Sostenible and in this fourth year with the City Council of Barcelona that supports our fair to be of cultural interest for the city.
“From the beginning we wanted to offer natural wines to a wider audience and bring great pioneers from neighboring countries to demonstrate from our first fair that the movement of natural wine was not a fad, – which by ignorance was said and it was written so far by many – but it was a reality that takes 20 to 30 years in constant evolution”
For us, and also for all the craftsmen of the natural wine that exhibits at our fair, the important thing is not the quantity, it’s quality with which things are done. For this reason, in these four years, and with the help of our pioneers of regional and foreign natural wines, and the active participation of the most selected hostelry of the city, it gave us time to change and reactivate the landscape of natural wine to Barcelona.
On May 9th, 2016 we organized the first edition of the Vella Terra natural wine fair in the Poble Espanyol of Barcelona: with more than 70 winemakers, 40 of them Catalans and the rest from France and Italy, and in which our friends from the association Renaissance des Appellations participated, all the restoration of Catalonia was invited and we had an influx that exceeded our expectations. More than 700 people visited us throughout the day and we offered a conference for ESHOB sommeliers with pioneers of biodynamic viticulture such as Nicolas Joly and Stefano Bellotti. All the photos here.
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The second edition of the Vella Terra Barcelona natural wine fair was held on February 19th, 2017, despite being alone in the city (since our policy was never overlapping our fair with any other event) we moved In the lobby of the Estació de Nord, a picturesque and historical area of our city because the space of the Poble Espanyol was small.
This time not only were there public and professionals of the city, but also attended a large number of international contacts, attracted by tireless work throughout the year. About 1000 souls gave an appointment, happy to try all that wine, offered by more than 100 natural / biodynamic and low intervention cellars. In the opinion of many professionals, this day was historic for the natural wine in our city.
Our fair attracted numerous importers and distributors from other countries to the city, stimulated consumption and connected directly to the innkeeper and the final consumer with the winemaker.
In the shadows of a massive event, interesting things usually happen, and with the announcement of our date, small showrooms and wine showrooms moved their dates to coincide with our main event. Our city Barcelona, got drunk with a single passion.
In this way, and in our 3rd edition of Vella Terra Barcelona we offer on February 10th a massive tasting of sparkling wines with 15 producers in a renowned restaurant and on February 11th, 100 producers of natural wine in the lobby of the Estació del Nord de Barcelona, with an intense and uninterrupted rain, attended by around 1500 people.
Reasons to have a natural and independent fair in the city
Because it is an independent fair, the Vella Terra Barcelona natural wine fair is the ideal showcase for the hostelry / final consumer who wants to know wines that are not yet distributed in the city, and in which they can discover true jewels, while the local and international distributors can establish business relationships with each other, with the producers and adding new wineries to their catalogs, and best of all, the natural wine producer interacts with all of them directly.
At the moment, we not only gather the most prestigious hostelry and distributors of our city, but we are a meeting point for all the most relevant personalities in the world of natural wine that travel from different parts of the world to visit the fair and the related events.
At a multitudinal fair like Vella Terra there are not only immaterial benefits such as:
- Be a direct part of a change in the consumption of citizenship, promote producers of natural wines of our region and our country and all those who decide to come from Europe and worldwide to Barcelona.
- The large-scale dissemination of a movement with direct impact on the small wine producer and our original objective, which was to incorporate natural wine and low intervention in everyday life, forming part of the “savoir faire”, of the good living of the citizens of our city.
- Give the hostelry / sommelier professional the chance to learn, taste and enjoy with one of the bes selection of producers of national and international natural wines, all in your city.
And economic benefits, since it is a great networking:
- Most importers / exporters and distributors (who go to search for producers for their catalogs) go from our fair with great discoveries and adhesions and those of our city, who distribute the wines of the winegrowers who already exhibit in our fair, they dynamize their networks and find a generous showcase to interact with other distributors and “wine merchants“.
- The artisan of natural wine that has its point of sale at the fair repays the value of its table with direct sales, being the protagonist of the day and showing its product to all attendees.
- Since it is a fair born in our city, since our first edition we made direct contacts with city, hostelry schools and restaurants of Barcelona, organizing with them Pop Ups previous to the fair and promoting the work of natural wines in our blog.
- Being in direct contact with the producers, other businesses such as sustainable wine tourism, wine clubs specialized in natural wines, we work to incorporate natural wines into gastronomic fairs of the city and the creation and organization of fairs of natural wines in other cities.
Like any international fair, Vella Terra Barcelona natural wine fair will generate benefits for the producers, collaborators, distributors and associations that participate in: reactivating consumption, creating community and inviting the whole city to celebrate with a claiming part of our viticulture.
As every year, we foresee a Sold Out, so if you are interested in attending, we recommend (for avoid queues or run out of entry) to go to our GARAGE BAR and get the advanced ticket.
The 9th and 10th of February we will offer specialized events under reservation and on February 11th we will celebrate the Vella Terra natural wine fair, as always, in the lobby of the Estació del Nord. Come visit us! All info here
More about the community of natural wine in our city by clicking here.
Text: Ale Delfino
Photos: Ale Delfino; Candela Muschetto
