Priorat’s Masia Duch , located in the ancient Escaladei’s Conreria, has been chosen to host a gastronomic meeting of the Slow Food Association.
Masia Duch, which own more than 25 hectares of Grenache, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grape crop, is the only grape and wine producing company in the Priorat that bottles only and exclusively the wines produced in their property. Located in a completely renovated facilities, faithful to the original constructions of Escaladei’s Carthusian monks, the plantation has also followed this pattern, and the old banks where the monks used to grow vines with harmony, environmental and landscape balance have been faithfully respected, too. Masia Duch grow their crop being very respectful with the ecosystem. That is the reason why only natural fertilizers and products are used, which results in two extraordinary wines: El Tancat and Bressol.
That is the reason why Slow Food, an association internationally founded in Paris in 1989, with central offices in northern Italy ¯ in the very Piamonte region, in Bra, to be exact -, chose this wine producing company as their meeting place.Slow Food have offices in Switzerland, Germany, France and the United States, and are present in forty-eight countries, with approximately 77000 members all over the world.
The Convivium (known as Condotte in Italy), is the association’s organizing committee, whose aim and philosophy is the slow production of food, paying special attention in the quality of the produced wine, like in the case of Masia Duch’s care in wine production. Ecogastronomic events for the knowledge of cheese and wine production in situ are organized, and profiles of food products elaborated under food quality policies are announced. Food artisans are promoted, and food and wine tasting courses are programmed, as well as discussions on food. Their network of contacts is their most valuable active.
The inner definition of their manifesto states a very clear message: this is a movement for the protection of the right of testing and knowing. The concept of pleasure embraces many meanings, and implies many aspects of our existence. One section of Slow Food is the Editore publishing house, specialized in tourism, food and wines; their catalogue includes almost 40 extraordinarily selected titles, and they also publish the magazine Taste and Culture in five languages: Italian, English, French, German and Spanish.
The Slow Food promote projects and activities, which are spread out in Le Tavole Fraterne (Friendship Tables). They involve the work of altruism in places where pleasure as a peremptory necessity has not arrived yet, such as Brazil, the former Iugoslavia or the areas in Italy that have been struck by earthquakes. In short, the public awareness towards the education of taste through different workshops on the relationship between man and nature is an aspect much more complex than the mere survival. |
