Barcelona was the setting this week for a clear message about Catalonia’s wine sector, landscape and culture. Winemaker Raül Bobet, owner of Castell d'Encús, used the presentation of the 14th Pyrenees Wine Fair to call for collective action to protect the region’s identity.
The fair will take place in Talarn, in Pallars Jussà, from 12 to 14 June. Its aim is to promote Pyrenean wines alongside local produce, linking wine with the area’s scenery and people.
The presentation took place at the Cotxeres del Palau Robert and included a tasting of four wines: La Presumida from Terrer de Pallars, a young blend of white Grenache and Macabeo, Taleia from Castell d'Encús, a Sauvignon Blanc monovarietal, Nummulit from El Vinyer, a full-bodied Merlot, and this year’s fair wine, a 2019 blend from Castell d'Encús with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot.
Speeches were also given by Talarn mayor Àlex Garcia, INCAVI director general Joan Gené and Talarn Music Experience promoter Ramon Mitjana. Bobet then shifted the focus beyond wine, arguing that the future of the area depends on landscape, people and activity, not on wine alone.
He said Catalonia should preserve what makes it distinctive and compete through excellence rather than volume. He linked wine to social values, saying it should be subtle, shared and tied to landscape, poetry and silence, rather than pushed towards intensity.
Bobet ended with a call for unity across the region, saying wineries, restaurants, culture, language and people all need to work together. He said Catalonia can move forward only by helping each other and by defending what it has in Pallars and across the Pyrenees.
For more local coverage, see our news page. For official context on the sector, readers can also visit the INCAVI website and the Pallars Jussà county council site.