Empordà Designation of Origin sells more than four million bottles of wine in a year for the first time

Vilablareix (ACN).-Empordà Designation of Origin has, for the first time, sold more than four million bottles of wine in a year. This amount represents an increase of 5% compared to 2010 and a rise of 18% on the last four years. The president of the wine designation, Josep Blanch, said that this “achievement” proves that Empordà DO has consolidated because since its beginnings, it has been growing year by year in a “consistent” way. Red wine is the most popular variety with 2.3 million units. The main Empordà wine market is the Girona region, where 34% of the bottles are sold. The “big challenge” of the Empordà wineries is still Barcelona. “It should be our main market, but it’s difficult to enter” he affirmed.

Empordà Designation of Origin wineries have gone from selling 3.4 million bottles in 2008 to 4,166,559 units in 2011, an increase of 18% despite the crisis. The president of Empordà DO, Josep Blanch, explained that they have perceived the crisis, but even so they managed to find a place in the market and keep growing. “Just consolidating ourselves is the best news”, said Blanch, who has attributed this increase in sales to the “effort” made by Empordà’s wineries and to their high-quality product. Most of the bottles (34%) are sold in the Girona region, while 27% have been sold in the rest of Catalonia. Referring to the Spanish market, Empordà DO has sold 15% of the bottles. Finally, the company has exported 20% of their production and 5% of the products were directly sold in wineries. The pending market of Empordà Designation of Origin remains Barcelona. In fact, according to Blanch, this is a “difficult” market for all Catalan wines, not just for them. The president regretted that the most complicated place to sell the product is precisely the place where the local product should be most strongly promoted. The biggest-selling wine variety and the one which has experienced a major increase compared to 2008 has been red wine, which grew from 1.8 million to 2.3 million units last year. Regarding the other varieties, 1.2 million units of white wine have been sold, 300,000 more than in 2008. Finally, rose wine kept its sales figures at 500,000 bottles. This increase in sales has led to a rise in quality, assured Josep Blanch. In fact, the 2011 Robert Parker List incorporated 44 Empordà DO wines, with 28 of them obtaining 90 points or more (16 more than in the previous edition). Blanch explained that there is a big presence of Empordà Designation of Origin in high quality restaurants. “Maybe we need to reach more popular hotels”, he said.