The Spanish Wine Federation (FEV) and the Catalan Institute of Cork Foundation (ICSuro) have signed a collaboration agreement that will materialize in different actions of a communicative, training or scientific nature. The signing took place at the headquarters of the Spanish Wine Federation by the Director General of the FEV, Jose Luis Benitez, and of the President of the Institut Català del Suro Foundation, Joan J. Puig.

According to José Luis Benítez, the agreement "highlights the synergies that naturally exist between both sectors in matters such as sustainability in a broad sense, the promotion of the circular economy, innovation and the search for excellence ".

For Joan J. Puig, "this agreement is a great opportunity for the cork and wine sector to join forces and work to achieve their shared goals".

Collaboration lines

The collaboration agreement establishes that both parties will support each other in issues such as the dissemination of the importance of the UNE standards relating to the cork as well as in the communication of issues related to wine culture and its positive implications, for example, in the setting of rural employment and sustainability.

In terms of training, the agreement opens the door to design and deliver online or face-to-face training, participate in technical seminars on good bottling practices or quality controls and key points in the bottling process, among others.

The parties will also be able to collaborate on initiatives related to the reuse of waste and circular economy through the cork or participate in CO2 compensation projects.

About the FEV and the ICSuro Foundation

The Federación Española del Vino is the main private business organization of wineries and the only national one. It is a non-profit association created in 1978 whose purpose, among others, is to represent, coordinate and defend the interests of its members and the Spanish wine sector as a whole.

The Institut Català del Suro Foundation is a private non-profit foundation of a cultural and scientific nature whose mission is to promote the entire value chain of the cork sector. It was established in 1991 as a public-private consortium and since 2019 it has been a foundation that works to become a global benchmark in cork research.