Excellent wines at the tasting organized in Madrid by the Salou City Council
- From an agricultural past to the recovery of wine-making heritage
- A tasting representative of the region's DO wines
- The Mediterranean as an identifying feature
- A musical pairing that elevates the experience
- Salou, territory, culture, and experiences
On Monday, the Salou City Council organized a tasting of local wines in Madrid, at Taberna Los Gallos, with the participation of around twenty media outlets, in an event designed to promote the wine-growing identity of the Salou area and highlight its agricultural, cultural, and scenic wealth.
The initiative was designed as an immersive and sensory experience, led by renowned sommelier Santi Rivas, who guided attendees through a wine tour designed to explain the region through its wines.
The aim was to show that Salou is much more than just a sun and beach destination and that its immediate surroundings form a mosaic of designations of origin, native varieties, and unique projects closely linked to the Mediterranean.
From an agricultural past to the recovery of wine-making heritage
The tasting began with a contextual account that emphasized Salou's agricultural past, closely linked to viticulture, through a series of explanatory slides. In this context, the project to recover lost ancestral varieties, such as pàmpol girat and esquitxagós, developed in collaboration with Rovira i Virgili University, the Catalan Institute of Vine and Wine (INCAVI), and the El Encín estate, was highlighted.
Likewise, the planting of 300 pàmpol girat vines in Pla de Maset in 2023 was highlighted, a symbolic action that represents the municipality's commitment to the recovery of agricultural heritage and the preservation of the region's wine-growing memory.
A tasting representative of the region's DO wines
Under the direction of Santi Rivas, the tasting sought to include as many of the region's designations of origin as possible, with a selection of wines that exemplify the diversity, uniqueness, and quality of the wine-growing landscape surrounding Salou.
The wines tasted were:
DO Conca de Barberà (DO Cava)
Carles Andreu Reserva Brut Nature 2022 – 100% Trepat, aged for 31 months.
DO Terra Alta
Herència Altés – La Serra Blanc 2017 – White Grenache from old vines, wine from a qualified estate.
DOQ Priorat
Les SentiuS 2022 – Bodega Giol Porrera – 100% recovered Verdiel, aged in French oak barrels.
Clos Monlleó Gran Reserva 2000 – Bodega Sangenís i Vaqué (Porrera) – Blend of Garnacha and Cariñena, expression of the Priorat llicorella.
DO Tarragona (Puigdelfí)
Palladares – Àmfora Macabeu 2023 – 100% Macabeo vinified in amphorae, aged submerged in Mediterranean seawater.
DO Montsant
Les Tallades de Cal Nicolau 2019 – Bodega Orto Vins (Masroig) – Picapoll fermented with native yeasts and aged in old barrels, a wine from a certified estate.
DO Tarragona (Reus)
Superior sweet mass wine – Bodega De Muller – White Grenache and Macabeo, a historic winery that supplies the Vatican.
This tour allowed attendees to discover native varieties, certified estate wines, unique productions, and projects that strongly express the identity of the territory, from the interior to the coast.
The Mediterranean as an identifying feature
One of the highlights of the session was the presentation of wines vinified in seawater, submerged in the Mediterranean, in the Port of Tarragona and in the Ebro Delta, in amphorae made from local materials. An innovative proposal that connects directly with the seafaring essence of Salou and reinforces the link between wine, the sea, and the landscape.
A musical pairing that elevates the experience
The tasting was accompanied by live music from harpist Cidalia Steinko, who performed several pieces throughout the session, adding an emotional and sensory dimension that enriched the experience.
Salou, territory, culture, and experiences
The mayor of Salou, Pere Granados, emphasized that actions such as this “are part of a clear strategy to explain Salou through its territory, history, and identity. We want to be known not only as a first-class tourist destination, but also as a municipality with roots, culture, and an extraordinary wine-growing environment that connects the sea with the interior.”
Granados stressed that “wine is culture, landscape, and local economy, and it allows us to build a quality, sustainable, and authentic narrative, aligned with the destination model we are promoting from Salou.”
With this action, Salou City Council is reinforcing its promotion strategy based on identity, culture, and territory, positioning wine and gastronomy as key elements of differentiation and tourism deseasonalization.
