"The beer toast during TV3's New Year's Eve broadcast is a slap in the face to the sparkling wine industry at a time of crisis."

TV3's New Year's Eve broadcast from Maria Cristina Avenue in Barcelona made history. First, because it broke audience records in Catalonia, reaching a 40.5% share. shareThis means that over a million people were watching the Catalan public broadcaster to celebrate the New Year. Secondly, because presenters Miki Núñez and Laura Escanes toasted with a 33cl bottle of Estrella Damm and then raised it to drink it. This act broke with a long-standing tradition at the Catalan public broadcaster, which had traditionally toasted with sparkling wine and used crystal glasses. The sparkling wine industry has protested vehemently, sending letters of complaint to the Catalan Media Corporation, the Catalan Wine Institute, and the Catalan Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, and Food. For their part, the Catalan company Estrella Damm and the management of TV3 explain that the choice of beer was due to the brewery's 150th anniversary celebration. "Next year, there will be sparkling wine again; they will toast with bubbles as always," stated TV3's director, Sigfrid Gras.

"The image of the presenters huddled around a bottle of beer, toasting to the new year of 2026, is a slap in the face to the sparkling wine sector at a time of crisis," states the president of Corpinnat, a sentiment echoed by Josep M. Albet and Noya of Clàssic Penedès, who have expressed their outrage. The situation, they say, is dire. "There's a drop in wine consumption, especially red wine, linked to the anti-alcohol campaign supported by the government; there's also a surplus of grapes," explains Llopart, who notes that "only sales of quality sparkling wines are weathering this crisis," but this exception doesn't prevent the sector from being in dire straits. These are serious times for viticulture, which in our country employs many families (29,000 people, according to Josep M. Albet i Noya), has a millennia-old tradition, and also shapes a unique landscape in our country. It's not just about the economy, but also about creating a green landscape and protecting it, because the vineyards themselves act as firebreaks.

However, the president of Corpinnat continues, "if TV3 did it for the money, there's nothing we can do, because we'll never be able to match the brewery's marketing budget." It's that old saying, "If you pay someone, they'll pay you," a common refrain among brewers since the day after the broadcast. "We can't do anything, but then the Catalan government needs to intervene and assert its authority," says Llopart. Josep M. Albet i Noya, from Clàssic Penedès, adds another point: "If they don't, if they don't assert their authority, then it will ultimately affect them, because the government will find itself having to provide aid to a dying sector; and one step towards death is destroying the tradition of showing that our own brand is being sacrificed."

In the Cava DO, winemaker Marta Casas, from the Parés Baltà winery, points out that the Cava Regulatory Board and the Cava Producers Association have also sent a letter of complaint. "It's very sad that traditions are being lost; furthermore, the nonverbal communication of swigging beer bottles, not even drinking from a glass, while wearing dresses with twenty-one buttons, doesn't align at all with any common-sense protocol."

A hope for uniting the sparkling wine sector

To continue, Josep M. Albet i Noya acknowledges that the toast has implicitly revealed another fact: the disunity within the sparkling wine industry. "It was a betrayal, because it's not just about money, but about sensitivities, about national traditions," he says, adding that they also interpret it as a way of keeping their feet on the ground: "We're being attacked from all sides at a time of disorganization within the sparkling wine sector." This disorganization, according to Albet i Noya, stems from the fact that three different winemaking brands coexist in the Penedès region: DO Cava, Corpinnat, and Clàssic Penedès. There are also producers who release their sparkling wines independently, as is the case with Pepe Raventós. "Clàssic Penedès was the first to break away from DO Cava, and we did so twelve years ago." But what's more, "in the Cava DO, there's also a lack of leadership from large companies because they belong to foreign businesses with no connection to the region," says Albet i Noya. However, there is hope, which is "the resumption of talks between Clàssic Penedès, Corpinnat, Pepe Raventós, and some Cava producers" to coordinate their efforts, Albet i Noya added. This coordination could involve creating "a more powerful entity, a merger of both brands, or other options; the point is, we're working to improve because we want to send a clearer message about sparkling wine." For his part, Estrella Damm's Marketing Director, Jaume Alemany, explains that 2026 "is a very special year for Damm because it marks 150 years since our founder arrived in Barcelona and launched the first Estrella Damm." For this reason, the Barcelona brewery was "very excited to be able to raise a toast with all of Catalonia to celebrate the occasion."

The director of TV3, Sigfrid Gras, explains in theNOW WE EAT Catalan public television supports the Cava, Corpinnat, and Clàssic Penedès designations of origin: "We always have, and we will continue to do so." The fact is that in 2026, "Estrella Damm, one of our best clients, asked us, as a gesture to celebrate its 150th anniversary, to toast the New Year with beer." Accepting this, says Sigfrid Gras, "wasn't about money, nor is it a slight to the sparkling wine industry, which we know is a traditional and family-run business in the country; rather, we accepted it as a gesture towards a company that has been around for 150 years." And in this regard, the director of TV3 insists that "it's not that Estrella Damm paid more than anyone else to have the New Year's Eve toast with beer." Having said all this, Sigfrid Gras understands the bubble industry's anger, and emphasizes that it was "an isolated incident, which they never intend to repeat. Next year, to celebrate the new year, they will toast with bubbles again," concludes the director of TV3.