Sitges Malvasia Week has presented the programme of activities that from 9 to 19 November will highlight the human legacy of the variety. Among the more than 15 proposals, tastings, wine pairings, cultural events, professional and educational workshops will be held at the Sitges Malvasia Interpretation Centre (CIM), the Sitges Hospital Winery's wine tourism space. Activities are also scheduled at the Espai Penedès Room at Tastavins in Barcelona, and at the Taberna del Vinseum in Vilafranca del Penedès.

Itineraries for different audiences

Each type of public has a tailor-made event within the framework of Malvasia Week 2023. Children and their families can attend the presentation on Sunday, 12 November at 12 noon of the new book 'Pequeña historia de la Malvasía de Sitges', published by the Sitges Town Council and illustrated by Pilarín Bayés. Culture lovers can also enjoy a tasting of Malvasia and Art with ADN Garraf, Friday, 10 November, from 7 to 9 pm; the "Perfumados de Malvasía de Sitges" workshop, which combines perfumes with Malvasia aromas, on Saturday 11 November, from 6 to 8 pm.

Wine lovers can also enjoy the popular Malvasia Fair at La Malvaseria, Sunday 19 November, from 11 am to 8 pm; a tasting of Sitges Malvasias from the DO Penedès, Thursday 16 November, from 7 pm to 9 pm in Barcelona; or a tasting of the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles with wines from all over the world, Friday 17 November at 7 pm.

The big meeting: wine tasting at La Malvaseria

Malvasia Week 2023 has also programmed a handpan concert with Malvasia tasting at the Modernist chapel of the Sitges Hospital at 7 p.m. on Saturday, 18 November. On Monday, 13 November, professionals will be able to enjoy a special edition of the Malvasia tasting, with more than 50 references, at the Sitges Malvasia Professional Wine Fair, from 4 to 8 pm. In addition to an educational day where wine tourism, climate change and Slow Food and Slow Wine will be discussed, with Malvasia de Sitges, on Friday, 17th in the morning, at the Santiago Rusiñol Library.

Tribute to a "human legacy

The ninth Malvasia Week is dedicated to the "human legacy" of the Sitges Malvasia. "We want to make a double recognition", says Alba Gràcia, coordinator of the CIM. "First to our elders: our grandfathers and grandmothers of the Hospital residence, which is the main umbrella of the Hospital winery, and of the Malvasia Interpretation Centre. All the wine tourism activities of the Malvasia Week, and all the bottles of the Hospital winery have a direct impact on our elders, and we also want to pay tribute to the significance of the collective of elderly people of Sitges who still have the memory alive of when Sitges was a wine-growing town, and there were still trades such as muleteers, coopers, winemakers... when tourism was not yet the main activity of our town. That is why we want to pay tribute to all the lives that have gone before us and that explain why Malvasia still exists in Sitges today".

Mercè Comes, Ambassador of the Malvasia Setamana 2023

The actress, theatre producer and member of "La Cubana", Mercè Comes, has received with great enthusiasm to be the Ambassador of the Malvasia 2023. "Malvasia is the typical drink, the heritage of Sitges. Every time you go somewhere and there is Malvasia, Sitges is also present", explains Mercè Comes. The actress points out that: "who knows if this drink is also to blame for the fact that there is so much artistic spirit in Sitges, and among Sitgetans".

Sitges and Malvasia

The mayoress of Sitges, Aurora Carbonell points out that "The Malvasia of Sitges gives us an added value and a very important singularity as a town" and adds that "it is much more than a grape variety, or a product of proximity. It is a heritage legacy that put Sitges on the map centuries ago to place us as a reference This variety of wine, present in our town since the 14th century is a revulsive and an asset that allows us to project ourselves to the world, exemplifying wine tourism, cultural tourism and the union of tradition with modernity, that is why, from the Sitges Town Council our commitment is to claim the Sitges Malvasia, our Malvasia, and to spread it, preserve it, promote the Sitges Malvasia, which Manuel Llopis y Bofill left us as a legacy".

An autochthonous variety with a future

Albert de Sangenís-Lliví, oenologist at the Bodega del Hospital de Sitges winery, believes that "the future for the variety is very promising". Sangenís believes that "the potential is very great. It is clear and is demonstrated by the wines we are currently making. The quality is unquestionable. It is an autochthonous variety, and adapted to climate change".

All the activities can be consulted in the agenda of Malvasía Week 2023.