Barcelona Wine Week approaches a thousand wineries, 15% more, and opens up to the city

Maximum satisfaction at Fira de Barcelona regarding the evolution of one of its youngest shows: the Barcelona Wine Week (BWW). This is an event that was born in 2020 ---just before the lockdown due to the pandemic--- after the fair institution decided to close down the historic Salón Intervin, which was held for the last time in 2018 within Alimentaria. This commitment to completely reinvent this wine fair and create a new show with an innovative format and with the vocation of becoming the largest platform for the promotion and internationalization of Spanish wine has worked, so Alimentaria Exhibitions is already planning an expansion for 2025.

The fourth edition of the BWW, which will be held next week, from February 5 to 7, has been sold out for months, so a record-breaking event is expected, with the participation of nearly a thousand wineries belonging to 73 denominations of origin (DO) and quality seals from all over Spain. Specifically, 952 exhibitors will participate, a 15% increase, occupying more than 7,200 net square meters, a figure that also represents a 15% increase compared to the previous year. This double-digit growth is what has led Fira de Barcelona to consider changes for next year, aimed at gaining space and being able to accommodate the demand from wineries that also want to be present at the fair. The goal for 2025 is for the BWW to have 10,000 net square meters of surface area and bring together some 1,200 wineries, according to sources from the organization told The New Barcelona Post.

Currently, the BWW fully occupies Palace 8 of the Montjuïc fairgrounds, also known as the Metallurgy pavilion. It has not yet been decided whether the fair, in order to grow, will move to other palaces in the Plaza España complex or if, in addition to Palace 8, another pavilion will also be occupied. It should also be noted that in 2026 the comprehensive remodeling works of the Montjuïc facilities will begin, a factor that will also influence the future plans of the show.

"The BWW is a young fair, with great potential for growth, but we want to go step by step. Success forces us to grow, so at the close of this fourth edition, and together with our exhibitors, we will analyze the expansion, but our objective is not so much to grow in volume, but to maintain our differential value proposition: to be a unique event for the revitalization and internationalization of quality Spanish wine," says Celine Pérez, director of BWW. The executive also points out another essential element for Alimentaria Exhibitions: to organize a premium fair, focused solely on professionals and with a significant presence of large national and international buyers to ensure that the event will allow "to generate business effectively" for exhibitors.

In this sense, BWW 2024 expects the visit of more than 20,000 professionals from the wine sector, of which 20% will be international. Among them, 650 key large buyers and importers from strategic countries for export invited by BWW in collaboration with ICEX stand out. The presence of professionals from the United States, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and China, which returns strongly to the fair, is noteworthy. These are purchasing decision-makers from large supermarket chains, such as Tesco (United Kingdom) or City Super (China), and key distributors such as American Northwest Distributors or Handcraftedwines (USA). In addition, nearly 1,000 national buyers invited by BWW through its VIP Buyers program will join them. In total, it is estimated that more than 11,400 business meetings will be held between these buyers and the exhibiting companies during the event.

The designations of origin that will have the greatest presence at BWW will be DO Ribera del Duero, DOC Rioja, and DO Cava, along with Priorat, Bierzo, Alicante, Mallorca, Jumilla, Cigales, Rías Baixas, Arlanza, and Navarra. Catalunya will once again be the community with the largest participation, with 299 wineries from the eleven Catalan DOs, a 10% increase.

Hotels and restaurants in Barcelona join the fair

Theprogram of parallel activities aimed at professionals is one of the great attractions of BWW which, this year, also redoubles its commitment to bringing the fair closer to the general public through the projectBWW Likes The City!,that will turn this beginning of February into the great week of wine in Barcelona. Thus, from 2 to 7 ofFebruarywine lovers will be able to participate in multiple initiatives in which more than 20 restaurants and hotels in the city have been involved, which will offer paired tapas, enogastronomic experiences and special menuswith wine as the protagonist.Establishmentsas Via Veneto, ABaC, La Balsa, La Venta, Compartir,Òleum, Can Majó,Maitea, Nectari,Topik,Citrus, Bolero Bar,Boscofthem Fades, TheTartería, Atempo, Xeixa, Molino de Pez, Bar Michigan,Betlem, Bodega Molina, El Maravillas, Café del Centre, Bar Muy Buenas,Cafèof La Pedrera, ElTros, Matos Bar andCéntrichave joined theBWW Likes The City! program

Another initiative is a literary pairing at the Llibreria Ona with wines from Joan Segura Pujadas and stories by Natàlia Cerezo. There will also be a wine tasting of Marco Abella wines at the Reial Cercle Artístic, and a new edition of Mujeres del Vino, which will allow tasting more than 200 wines made by some 40 women producers and oenologists from about twenty DOs at the Palau de Pedralbes.

This year, the Hotel Wine Fest is also debuting, an initiative consisting of several routes through emblematic hotels in Barcelona organized by different denominations of origin where special tastings and pairings can also be enjoyed. The DO Cava route will take place in the Cotton House, Almanac and El ---, while the DO Penedès route involves the luxury hotels and axis. For their part, the wineries of DO Jumilla will present their wines at the Hotel , and DO Yecla at the & Hotel during the week an exclusive tapa of homemade pastrami mollete with cured bacon, Manchego cheese and truffle will be offered, with a selection of Penedès wines from the Familia Torres, , Can wineries. In addition, there will be a 50 euro tasting menu (pairing included) consisting of smoked sea bass carpaccio with date puree and grape and apple cow Brie cheese from Mas .

Once inside the fair, the BWW Hub space has organized more than 70 tastings and presentations in which 160 experts will participate, among them, six Master of Wine, sommeliers, enologists, producers, and prominent critics from the sector. Different master tastings will be held, major trends in the wine sector will be analyzed, and wine tourism and gastronomy will be debated. This year, the more technical presentations will focus on the current trend of increasingly using unique containers (such as concrete eggs, amphorae, or stone or granite cubes) for the production and aging of wines. Thus, experts will explain how the shape and material of the containers influence the production process and which ones are most suitable for each style of wine.