• The winery announces a 52% increase in overall turnover, rising from 3.3 million euros in 2018 to 5 million euros in 2022

• 45% of sales come from international markets such as Canada, the United States, Germany and Finland

Alta Alella, an organic family winery since its origin, continues its commitment to the territory and announces an investment of 2.5 million euros in the development of its winemaking activity, destined mainly to the acquisition of new hectares of land in Alella-Tiana, as well as technical facilities and tools to preserve the vineyard. “What excites me most is that my parents started with just one hectare in 1991 and in 2024, we will reach 70 hectares. We could have chosen another business model based on volume, but our path was and is to focus on the land, the vines, and to lead and control the entire winemaking process,” says Mireia Pujol-Busquets, co-owner and second generation of the winery.

This investment comes after years of growth and consolidation of the brand. The Pujol-Busquets family has announced a 52% increase in turnover in just five years. Specifically, its global turnover has risen from 3.3 million euros in 2018 to 5 million last year. From these, national sales represent 55% (with Catalonia, Balearic Islands, Basque Country, Valencian Community, Andalusia and Madrid mainly), and exports 45% (with Canada -Quebec-, United States, Germany and Finland as the largest international markets).

The Value of the Territory

Alta Alella is the culmination of a family project that was born more than thirty years ago by Josep Maria Pujol-Busquets and Cristina Guillén. After making wines all over the world, in 1991 they acquired the modernist Can Genís estate where Alta Alella is located, just 14 km from the city of Barcelona and less than 2 km from the Mediterranean, in the privileged agricultural area of the Serralada de Marina Natural Park. “It is a miracle to be able to develop this project so close to Barcelona. All our family’s efforts are dedicated to it”, says its founder, Josep Maria.

The investment in new vineyard plantations represents a very positive impact for the ecosystem in the peri-urban area of Barcelona and contributes to the organization of the territory, providing landscape value, as well as acting as a firebreak. The winery works with small parcels, which respect the orography of the territory as much as possible, maintaining the areas of forest between the vineyards. This enhances biodiversity, prevents the appearance of plagues and soil erosion, and has a positive impact on the quality of the wine, as “we plant the varieties that are best suited to each plot of land so that they express their full potential and uniqueness, taking into account the distance and height above sea level, and the orientation with respect to the sun”, explains Mireia.

Taking care of the vineyard in 2023: digitalization and environmental responsibility

Loyal to its values, “dedicated to transparency and committed to nature“, the family’s priority has always been the responsibility towards the territory (born organic) and the production of high quality wines and cavas that express their origin to the fullest. Following the premise of sustainability, part of the investment has also been destined to renewable energies and the digitalization of the vineyard. Alta Alella has been working for 8 years now with digital tools that increase traceability in the field, provide greater efficiency and optimization of the work in the vineyard, and minimize the environmental impact.

“A winery is a long-term project, and to ensure that future generations can enjoy the benefits of the land, we have to take care of it today”, says Mireia. Already in 1999, Alta Alella began its participation in the experimental vineyard project with Resistant and Autochthonous Varieties Adapted to Climate Change (VRIAACC in Catalan). Reducing the carbon footprint is a priority task for the winery, which for the last three years has also been a member of the “Voluntary Agreements Programme” promoted by the Government of Catalonia, following the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Related news in the national media:

• La Vanguardia: “Bodega Alta Alella invertirá 2,5 millones en nuevas hectáreas de cultivo”
• Tecnovino: “Alta Alella anuncia una inversión de 2,5 millones de euros para adquirir nuevas hectáreas de cultivo en Alella-Tiana”
• El Periódico: “Alta Alella destina 2,5 millones a aumentar su superficie de viñas”
• 324 (CCMA): “El celler Alta Alella tanca l’exercici del 2022 amb una facturació de 5 milions d’euros, un 52% més en 5 anys”
• El Economista: “Alta Alella reinvierte en viñas las plusvalías de la venta de Parxet y Privat”
• La República: “El celler Alta Alella tanca l’exercici del 2022 amb una facturació de 5 milions d’euros, un 52% més en 5 anys”
• Fem Maridatge: “Alta Alella consolida la seva aposta pel territori i inverteix 2,5 milions d’euros en vinyes”
• 7canibales: “Alta Alella invierte 2,5 millones”

At Alta Alella, we continue our commitment to adopt digital technologies in the vineyard, which simplify our day-to-day work and help us being more efficient, minimizing our environmental impact and reducing costs.

During the last year, Alta Alella’s technical team has incorporated the use of Auravant software for agriculture, which allows us to carry out Precision Agriculture. Specifically, this tool interprets nanosatellite images and translates them into simple and intuitive data, dividing vines according to vigor zones and plant water status. This enables us to know the status of each of our vineyards at any time and from anywhere, using a mobile device, without the need to visit each vineyard on a daily basis. Furthermore, it gives us considerable detailed information, which contributes to decision-making and permits us to act in a much more precise and selective way, even on different vines within the same vineyard. This makes it easier for us to manage our resources and use only those that are minimally necessary for cultivation. For example, we can use fertilizers in a more flexible way, apply plant protection products permitted in organic farming according to the sensitivity of the area, and save water, thanks to the fact that we can quantify the water status of the plant and therefore evaluate the irrigation need. Also, during ripening, it enables us to classify the zones within each vineyard and to harvest the grapes according to their state, thus obtaining a product with a high quality and a low environmental impact.

In addition to this news, it has been four years since Alta Alella began working with Agroptima, an application that provides us with greater traceability of the tasks carried out in the field and allows us to have a more rigorous control. By using this tool, we can record and consult all the tasks executed in the vineyard from anywhere in a quick and easy way, reducing the margin of error that can result from manual data entry. This way, we also have all the information updated instantly and we can extract profitability reports that help us being more efficient and reducing costs.