"I'm going to live in the US to be close to distributors and the American market because of the tariffs."

Saint Sadurní of AnoiaRaventós y Blanc's general manager, Pepe Raventós (Barcelona, 1974), is moving to New York with his family at the end of August to be closer to distributors and the American market. This will be his second time away, having lived there from 2011 to 2016, the year he returned to Sant Sadurní, where he has lived until now with his partner and four children. The decision is both a family and professional one, as it became known yesterday that European wines and sparkling wines will have a 15% tariff, which Pepe Raventós will not be able to avoid even though he resides in New York. He won't be able to avoid it because the product he will import comes from the Penedès region, but Pepe Raventós believes that by living in the market where he primarily exports, he can give a significant boost to the Sant Sadurní winery.

Raventós i Blanc was born in the 1980s after his grandfather left the family business, Codorníu. In 2012, he made another decision: to leave the Cava DO. Today, he's excitedly preparing for his trip to the US because he believes it's an opportunity to spread the great wealth of the Penedès, which he considers damaged. "It's damaged because it's a territory that has exported misery to the world; a misery based on low prices," he says, adding that for the next few years, he'll be living between New York and the Penedès. He'll spend the entire August on the plot, in the vineyard, and the following months he'll be traveling back and forth.

This is how Pepe Raventós thinks he can deal with the tariffs. "During Donald Trump's first term, we were fortunate that, due to the US president's friendship with the owner of Louis Vuitton, the champagne producer, the 25% tariffs he initially wanted to implement were annulled," he says. This hasn't been the case in his second term; he's pushed through them, and "no one can guarantee that he won't change his mind and raise them," he comments. The fact is that the wine and sparkling wine producer sees the tariffs as an opportunity. "Champagne prices will rise because of the tariffs, and therefore they will be higher than ever. Then we can occupy a prestigious space, because we make quality sparkling wines at different prices," says Raventós. He continues his statement in other words: "Donald Trump's tariffs will make the American consumer who drank champagne thinking it was the best sparkling wine in the world realize that this isn't the case."

The Champagne Deception

According to the winemaker from San Sadurní de Anoia, historically there have been circumstances that have helped champagne become associated with the idea of the best possible sparkling wine: "French kings drank it and the people wanted to imitate them; French marketing, because France is a great brand builder; the recognition that France gives its winegrowers, French chauvinism, which leads them to always support its products," Raventós lists.

In the Penedès, Pepe Raventós and also the winemakers at Corpinnat pay around one euro per kilo of grapes; in the case of Raventós and Blanc, 1.25 euros per kilo of grapes from old organic vineyards. In the case of Corpinnat, the brand has set a minimum price, 0.92 euros, from which each winery negotiates with the winemaker, but always upwards, of course.

Thus, the Raventós and Blanc producer's departure with his family to the US is not to obtain any reduction in tariffs, but rather to better position his wines and sparkling wines in the American market than ever before. "I'll go with my rectangular backpack where I'll carry the refrigerated bottles, and I'll open them for importers, restaurateurs, and anyone interested in telling them about our family history." The Penedès, Pepe Raventós continues, "has a unique and unrepeatable reality, where the grapes ripen perfectly thanks to the climate and the soil. We have excellent local varieties, and the world should know about it." The tariffs are an opportunity to achieve this. Dissemination is the way to make the wines and sparkling wines of the Penedès popular.