Corpinnat grows in 2024 and asks for more support from the Generalitat

BarcelonaThe Corpinnat collective sparkling wine brand closed 2024 with an increase in sales despite suffering a drop in the number of bottles sold, in a year marked by drought. The president of the Penedès brand, Ton Mata, has called for more support from the administrations, especially the Generalitat, especially in comparison with the wineries that are part of designations of origin (DO).

Specifically, the thirteen Corpinnat wineries sold 2.22 million bottles of cava last year, which represents a reduction of 2.6% compared to 2023. The collective brand has thus had two consecutive years of falling sales of bottles, but this reduction has not been reflected in revenue: the wineries' turnover increased last year by 1.7%, to 26.8 million euros. "Turnover has not stopped rising in any year," said Mata, who hopes to increase the total number of associated companies to at least fifteen in the coming months.

Mata has expressed his "great satisfaction" with the business's performance, particularly as it was a difficult year, meteorologically speaking, for the Penedès wine sector. Due to the drought that has been accumulating since 2021, "the 2024 harvest is the one with the lowest yield in recent years," he explained at the press conference to present the results this Tuesday in Barcelona. However, the wineries have maintained stocks close to 12 million bottles, a level similar to that of 2023.

The average price of grapes that companies pay to farmers also rose last year compared to the previous year, from 1.04 to 1.15 euros per kilo. "There is progress being made" to improve the price so that farmers "can live and not just survive," said Corpinnat vice president Xavi Nadal, who recalled that when the brand was created in 2018 the average price paid was 60 cents per kilo.

Complaints about treatment by administrations

Corpinnat executives have confirmed that they will meet with the Minister of Agriculture, Òscar Ordeig, in the coming days to convey to the Government their concerns and complaints about the treatment of public administrations. The main demand that Corpinnat executives have is that a very large part of public aid to the wine sector is limited to designations of origin or associated companies, or in the case that they are open, they continue to give more points to companies that are part of a DO. The president has given as an example the fact that, during the peak of the pandemic, Corpinnat companies did not access any public aid for wineries that produced long-aged wines, although the brand's sparkling wines are the ones with the longest aging in the State.

Mata has assured that Corpinnat has grown "without any public aid" and "without any support" from the administration: "We have financed it entirely, the companies," he insisted, although the collective brand "is a legally recognized European legal figure." "We have not invented it," he added.

"If we were a DO we would have received 500,000 euros," said Mata, who compared the situation with the 18,000 euros per winery received by the DO Cava. According to the president of the brand, the Corpinnat wineries carry out "an enormous job to position Catalan, Spanish and European wine" with "a value proposition" and a "social project" of territorial structuring.