Marta Vidal: "The price of grapes is an agreement between producers and winegrowers, we cannot get involved in it"

Vilanova i la GeltrúWe interview the president of the DO Cava, Marta Vidal (Puigdàlber, 1984), in the town where she lives, Vilanova i la Geltrú. She took office on June 11th, after elections she won against four other candidacies. Marta Vidal is also the general director of the Vallformosa winery, which brings between ten and twelve million bottles of cava to the market annually. Her father, Vicenç Vidal, is one of the winery's shareholders, and it was the partners who proposed to the father that he give the position of general director to his daughter, who was educated at Pompeu Fabra University, Esade, and has work experience in banking, specifically at Bankinter. When she was thirty years old, she left everything and went to live in the USA, in San Francisco and New York. Upon her return, in 2017, she joined the winery, located in Vilobí del Penedès. Marta Vidal arrives at the interview prepared with written pages, with underlined phrases, and with a very clear discourse, which she summarizes with constant words: dialogue, future, and sustainability.

She has been president of the DO Cava for two months and has entered at a time of change in the world of bubbles.

— It is a personal sacrifice to take on the position. For a long time, people around me had been asking me to; many winegrowers told me, and there was a day when I had a conversation with my husband that made me decide. He told me: "If you love the territory, now it's your turn to take it on." I have four children and I want them to live and enjoy the territory just as I have lived it. Therefore, I consider that I live the position with the utmost responsibility, as a project for the future.

What are the challenges you want to face?

— To begin with, I know I can't do anything alone; I can lead a transformation, but we have to go together. The DO Cava produces 190 million bottles annually, and the first objective is to be sustainable. The DO Cava represents 80% of the Penedès vineyard.

When it says sustainable, what does that mean exactly? Produce less cava?

— It means we must grow in value, that we must explain to the world what we are, that it is a territory with a unique method, qualities, and way of life. We must communicate who we are, and thus we will make ourselves valued.

So, the goal is no longer to grow in volume?

— I don't know any company that says it wants to shrink; I say the challenge is sustainability. We live in a time when the consumer is lost, and this can be perceived both positively and negatively. Proseccos have grown; crémants, too; in general, the consumption of bubbles is growing, therefore, there is hope, because we are in the category of bubbles where many would like to be.

But proseccos come onto the market after twenty-one days of production. Cava should not be comparable.

— I'm referring to the fact that we are in the sparkling wine category, which is growing worldwide. We have to know how to capitalize on this, and if we have better attributes, be able to communicate them. I believe in the potential we have. Furthermore, we must understand the consumer; we cannot live ignoring the new ways of consuming bubbles. And with all this, it must be said that the DO Cava is the only project that can preserve the viability of the vineyard in Penedès because we represent 80% of the vineyard, and 70% in Catalonia.

Last August 5th you issued a statement explaining that this harvest you would buy grapes worth 100 million euros, and that you would do so by maintaining the grape prices from the previous campaign. The Association of Penedès Winegrowers has been very critical of this announcement. The price of grapes is moving at the same figures as twenty years ago, between 30 and 40 cents.

— On August 5th, we referred to the dimension generated by the purchase and sale of grapes according to this year's forecast and from that date onwards. We wanted to explain with the data the impact that cava has on the territory. At the end of the grape harvest, we will produce a report with the exact data, but on August 5th, we wanted to take a snapshot of the moment. The figure changes every day.

The winegrowers, who have you on the board, say that you have not provided real data.

— Because we will not be able to have them until the end of the harvest. I know we are living in a complicated and tense situation, but we are all talking about the same thing. Therefore, I want to address it with this report that I commit to doing at the end of the harvest. We must face the future, do it in a structural way, but we still don't know what the harvest will be like, therefore, we cannot address it in the short term.

But the fact is that for twenty years the cava winegrower has been charging the same per kilo harvested.

— My experience is that prices have not been at 30 or 40 euro cents [per kilo] for a long time. It is not a reality that I have lived, but it is a reality that has returned to the market and that we must know how to address and manage. Our responsibility is to take a picture of it and value the product. The more value we can give it, the more value we can give to the entire chain.

18% of integrated winemakers, that is, those who carry out the entire process within the winery and therefore do not buy base wine from others, say they pay one euro per kilo of organic and hand-picked grapes.

— It is a percentage that we will try to grow. Furthermore, the concept of integral elaboration is an attribute that we must explain better, because it is a great richness of the product.

The labels could also opt for the name Penedès. The concept Comtats de Barcelona is difficult to associate with Penedès. And the sub-zones are also difficult to understand: Valls d’Anoia-Foix, Serra de Mar, Conca del Gaià, Serra de Prades, Pla de Ponent.

— The name cava is a Catalan brand that is known worldwide, 95% of cava is made by us.

The DO Cava is Spanish, it integrates other territories of the State.

— But the great part of cava is made by us; we have to explain its richness, and we will work so that the origins of each of the areas carry more weight. We must claim Penedès as the historical heart of cava.

What are the short-term proposals you are working on?

— The qualitative guarantee provision, which is a very good tool that anticipates years of drought. This tool means that ten thousand kilograms of grapes are used per hectare, but two thousand more are kept [as base wine] qualified for the following year. If there were a drought, we would have a qualitative reserve. The issue is that the maximum yield per hectare is ten thousand kilograms, which is the parameter we have set, so that we can balance supply and demand. Another proposal is the production of concentrated must, which is also very relevant because it is a way to absorb more grapes, so that they are harvested and used.

Will there ever be a way to officially control the price wineries pay the grape grower?

— The price is an agreement between producers and winegrowers; we, as a designation of origin, can influence it, but we cannot get involved in it. It is the producers and the winegrowers who agree on the ways of working together.