The wine tourism festival on the Costa Brava, promoted by the Board of Tourism Costa Brava Girona de la Province of Gironawill offer this April around sixty original proposals, such as one taste above a balloon aerostatic, quick dates between vineyards or dinners with ten hands with the Kitchen of Empordanet. The Vivid arrives at the tenth edition with the aim of reaching a younger audience and, for this reason, incorporates activities such as a ‘brunch’ or a sunset with wine through the proposal ‘Villainous experiences’. The festival has recorded an average of 2,000 attendees, mostly from the Girona counties (66%) but also from the Barcelona area (34%).
From April 1 to May 1, the tenth edition of the Vivid festival, a whole month of wine tourism activities on the Costa Brava. The promotional initiative, promoted by the Costa Brava Girona Tourism Board of the Diputació de Girona, has the support and participation of the Regulatory Council of the DO Empordà, wineries of the DO Empordà, town councils and tourist companies in the territory, as well as the hundred members who make up the marketing club of the DO Empordà Wine Route. The Vívid celebrates its tenth consolidated edition as one of the events wine tourism most important that are currently being carried out in Catalonia.
This Monday they presented the program in Barcelona. The event was attended by Jordi Masquef, second vice-president of the Costa Brava Girona Tourism Board, Xavier Albertí, president of the Empordà DO Regulatory Council, and Norbert Bes, director of the Costa Brava Girona Tourism Board.
The average occupancy of Vívid’s proposals is 80%, while one of the data that highlights the good reception it has among wine fans is that 95% rate it as “very good” or “good”. Over the course of this decade, the festival has also become one laboratory of ideas i of innovation in this field that have helped to diversify the wine tourism offer of the Empordà.
The festival offers a sixty activities during the month of April on the Costa Brava. The initiative is publicized on the website https://vivid.costabrava.org/ and a communication campaign in traditional and digital media, specifically in social networks. The program of activities is divided into eight categories: unique tastings, pairings to lose the senses, meals that make a party, breakfasts among the vineyards, villa experiences, wine and nature routes, wine melodies, and Vivid getaways.
The Vivid offers a lot of unique tastes and unique to savor Empordà wines. The Empordàlia winery is planning a wine tasting atop a hot air balloon that will fly over some of its vineyards. The Mas Geli winery encourages Vívid users to seek new friendships with the Speed dating activity, Speed taste, which suggests tasting each wine with different tablemates in an elegant way. At Vins i Licors Grau, journalist Xavier Grasset will share with users the Empordà wines he likes the most.
A wide variety of tastings that, in addition, want to reach all audiences with activities adapted to various groupssuch as the wine tasting in sign language organized by the Clos d’Agon winery.
Pairings
Cheeses, foie-gras, oysters, chocolate… El Vívid programs activities that they pair the wines of the Empordà with other local products, to discover flavors and textures in perfect balance. An enogastronomic journey guided by great experts such as the chef of the Restaurant del Castell Perelada, Toni Gerez—the first chef recognized with a Michelin star—who proposes a careful choice of cheeses here and there to pair with all kinds of wines. Within this area, the pairing offered by the Martí Fabra winery, which will combine its sweet and rancid wines with foie-gras, is also noteworthy. It will be an exceptional tasting, as some of these wines are not marketed. Also of note is the tasting offered by Mas Oller winery and chef Iolanda Bustos, who will pair three wines with three tapas made with the flowers around the winery.
The Vivid also offers meals. This year, they stand out three dinners for ten hands proposed by the chefs of the Cuina de l’Empordanet and the winemakers of the Empordà. Each meal will offer a pairing specially created to combine five dishes and five Empordà wines. All dinners include the presence of chefs and winemakers, who explain to diners the dishes and wines and the meaning of pairing. Another outstanding proposal in this category is the ‘Wine in the glass, wine in the plate’ menu, offered by Restaurant Es Portal, in Pals, and which includes wines as an ingredient in the dishes that will be paired with the same wines .
The proposal Fork breakfasts among vineyards will take place at a dozen wineries on the DO Empordà Wine Route with the participation of chefs from the Cuina del Vent gastronomic collective and the Costa Brava Food and Wine Clubs and the DO Empordà Wine Route.
Villainous experiences
The wine tourism festival wants to increase the attendance of the younger public and programs activities aimed mainly at this group. These are proposals that combine wine, gastronomy and music in a festive atmosphere and in environments of great beauty. One of the most outstanding activities in this category is the Brunch among the vines at the new Perelada winery which for the first time since its opening offers an activity of these characteristics. It will be a party for more than a hundred participants that will start at noon and end at four in the afternoon. Another experience for young people is the Wine sunset at Finca Furot of the Oliveda winery, which offers a sunset among vineyards surrounded by nature, wines and a concert.
Finally, the festival also proposes wine and natural routes to enjoy the wine-growing landscapes of the Empordà, Melodies de vino experiences that pair it with various musical styles and getaways, with packages that include nights of accommodation combined with activities.