A dream come true among vineyards and continuous training

On a small hill in Penedès, among vineyards that draw infinite landscapes, Núria Garcia welcomes visitors to the Mas Rodó winery every day. She guides them, tells them about varieties, aromas, soils, and climate. She opens the doors to a world that, only a few years ago, was still a distant dream. Today it is her profession and, above all, her place in the world.

Núria is 54 years old and is an enotourism guide and sommelier. But her journey to get here has not been linear. She had studied Anglo-Germanic philology and had worked as a teacher for years, "but my passion was always the world of wine." Even so, work circumstances led her down other paths: after becoming unemployed, she entered the insurance sector at Caixa Penedès, where she worked until the disappearance of the entity left her out of the labor market again; a vital impasse that opened the doors to a second professional life.

A new beginning through training

Five years ago, Núria decided to bet on what she had always felt as a vocation. She enrolled in the professional certificate in Sommelierie at the School of Enotourism of Catalonia. This step opened the doors to the job "that I really wanted and desired," she explains. "My passion was always the world of wine," and she demonstrated this passion, once she managed to enter the wine sector, through training and a willingness to continue growing.

Through the Consortium for Continuous Training of Catalonia, Núria has completed 100% subsidized programs in areas such as wine presentation, sommelierie and pairing, tourism marketing, tourism promotion and communication, product development, and tourist assistance in a foreign language.

Training that has not only reinforced her technical knowledge but has also consolidated the security and self-esteem necessary to grow in a competitive and demanding sector. For Núria, the 6 training courses she has completed through the Consortium represent "personal and professional growth," and a dream come true, among vineyards and continuous training.

The value of training that leaves no one behind

The story of Núria is an example of what the Consortium for Continuous Training of Catalonia has been promoting since 2004: making quality and permanent training available to all employed workers so that they can improve, reinvent themselves, or adapt to a constantly transforming labor market. Created by the Generalitat de Catalunya —through the Department of Business and Work— and by the main social agents (UGT, CCOO, Pimec, and Foment del Treball), the Consortium is today an essential piece to ensure that lifelong learning is a reality and not a privilege. They offer more than 9,000 annual courses from a catalog with over 1,300 specialties, with 150 training entities throughout the territory and a sectoral, but also transversal, approach: languages, digital skills, management skills, entrepreneurship, or equality. In 2026, it will allocate 63.6 million euros to reach 145,000 workers. The philosophy is clear: to ensure that no one is left behind in their professional career, but also to provide tools so that anyone can face new paths if life —or opportunities— change, as Núria's story clearly shows.

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