The Peralada Group reinforces its commitment to be a legacy of the Empordà

2023-04-29 16:31:57

The 1923, Damià Mateu he bought the castle of Peralada and the adjacent monastery with an idea in mind: revitalize the historical wine production of the area. A story that meandered many years ago with the wines made by the Carmelite nuns in the 14th century. Mateu, also the founder of the Hispano-Suiza car company and father of Miquel Mateu (1939-1945), who was mayor of Barcelona, ​​believed that the Empordà was the ideal place to make wine. And he wasn’t wrong. A century later, the Suqué Mateu family continues with the same idea. “We have to put Empordà where we think it should be in terms of winemaking”, says Javier Suqué, president and co-owner of the Peralada Group, for whom “the bet for the Empordà is clear”. “We want this bet to be a legacy for the following generations,” he adds. A legacy of good wine and economic performance, but also of sustainability and commitment to the territory with the spectacular new wineries opened last year next to the castle.

The group’s interests in the leisure and restaurant sector – since the inauguration of the Barcelona, ​​Peralada and Lloret casinos at the end of the 70s – as well as its outstanding work in the world of cultural patronage with the prestigious Castell de Peralada Festival and the industrial with the maintenance of the Hispano-Suiza brand, give presence to the business holding of the Suqué Mateu family with a turnover of more than 260 million euros.

Compete with the best

In the wine business line, the Peralada Group invoiced in 2022 more than 20 million euros, a figure that is 10% more than that of the last year before the covid pandemic (2019). According to the firm’s forecasts, the goal is to grow this 2023 by another 10% to reach 22 million. An objective that happens to increase the foreign market with this original idea of ​​placing the Empordà where it “should be in terms of viticulture”. Suqué Mateu has had in mind to compete with the best wines in the world since, in the mid-90s, he was at the head of the business. Those years saw the arrival of wines such as Malaveïna and Garbet, which have received numerous accolades over the years. Selling more outside is the way to get this goal of another 10% annual growth in turnover. Markets such as those of the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan and China are those that Peralada has on the radar. Growing in these markets would bring the group closer to an ambitious goal ofincrease exports up to 60% in three years to change the current geographical distribution of wine and cavas sales: 55% go to the Catalan domestic market; 13%, to other parts of Spain, and 32%, to export.

Selling more abroad in markets such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan and China is the way to achieve the goal of 10% growth.

A growth in the foreign market that, for the managers of the Peralada Group, must come through the search for excellence in the quality of wines. And the technical possibilities of the new cellars, inaugurated last year and designed by the prestigious Catalan firm RCR Arquitectes, from which the first five new wines produced in the facilities will soon be released: Finca Malaveïna 2020, Finca Espolla 2020, two novelties (Host and Gift) and a special wine designed to celebrate the winery’s centenary, of which only 1,000 units will be made and which will be called Centenary Wine.

Sustainability, priority

Suqué Mateu made it clear in the presentation of the economic results. The economic performance of the business cannot be separated from respect for the territory. “Sustainability is our priority and today we can say that the new winery opened in 2022 is the first in all of Europe to get the LEED Gold labelthe sustainability certification most prestigious in the world”, he stated with reference to the spectacular new facilities.

Along these same lines, from 2025, all the vineyards of the Peralada Group will have the certification of organic cultivation. In the same time period, the winery wants to advance in the implementation of regenerative agriculture with practices such as the elimination of all kinds of herbicides and the use of plants that do not erode the land. The current drought episode and the foreseeable ones that will occur in the future corroborate the need for irrigation with water recovered from the treatment plant, as has been done on the Garbet estate for 25 years. Or the semi-underground, which is already used in the vineyards surrounding the new winery, which allows the water to reach the roots earlier, and in this way waste is avoided.

From 2025, all the vineyards of the Peralada Group will have organic cultivation certification.

In this axis of sustainability, this same year the Peralada Group will start producing bottles 100 grams lighter, with a rough texture, sustainable and 100% recyclable both to reduce the carbon footprint and to promote a better use of glass. The winery’s two new wines, Amfitrió and Obsequi, will be the first to be bottled with the new bottle as a step before adapting to the rest of the production.