Emprenedors Entrepreneurs
‘La Gastronòmica’ — a way of loving and living the land
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ith wine and gastronomy as their central theme, ‘La Gastronòmica’ offers an exciting and delightfully diverse experience of the Empordà. Founders Clara Antúnez and Jaume Montanyà collaborate with Empordan artisans of many kinds including enologists, artists, musicians and chefs to present us with the hidden treasures of this land. Their ‘raison d’etre’ is to welcome visitors to Catalonia with participatory experiences rooted in the land itself, through some of the Empordà’s extraordinary products. “Passion is what makes us different. It isn’t enough to be offering cellar tours and beaches… today’s clients want something else, personalised and unique, which is what we promise; a bio-dynamic wine or artisan cheese tasting with live music in a special location, for example.” Every ‘La Gastronòmica’ activity is a 360 degree experience: you see and sense all the elements that go to make that special product or person and you feel involved with the whole process. “Wine-tastings can be boring for ordinary folk! We want our clients to be seduced, not only by the tastes and smells, but by the knowledge of the place, the process and the culture of the people.” At lagastronomica.cat you can find the full gamut of their bespoke services for visitors to Catalonia. Clara and Jaume are keen to explain their philosophy in the context of the corporate service they also provide. “We believe that there’s a lot to do in the business sector and that’s why we also offer assessment and team-building activities to companies and their staff. We are working with systemic pedagogy experts in order to harmonize the three principles of this discipline — roots, order and balance — with wine, which can be translated as: vineyards (roots), market scope (order) and environmental commitment (balance). From these three lines we want to help the business to improve.”
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The ‘El Nas d’Or’ literature and wine event in libraries is one such example of how they believe their partners contribute creative multidisciplinary perspectives to the values of the ‘La Gastronòmica’ project. Clara and Jaume declare that this local family project is kept alive and passionate by always being open to the new, its own constant re-invention and its diverse thinking. “Sharing our personal interests leads us to increase our range of activities. For the future we are already thinking of a mushroom picking event as well as looking for a way to link wine to the sea world. For example, a wine tasting on a boat that would end with a show-cooking on a beach in the Costa Brava. We are always working with our partners to find unique spaces for our activities to happen. We are aware that what defines us is a certain way of doing things — tasting a wine, eating some cheese… living with joy and feeling curious about the world around us.” Clara Antúnez is sommelier and dietician-nutritionist. She’s always been keen on people, pedagogy and communication. She has over 10 years experience tasting and presenting wine. She has published three books about nutrition and wine. Gastronomy lover Jaume Montanyà owns a health and physiotherapy centre and studied cooking at the Hofmann School in Barcelona. The idea for ‘La Gastronòmica’ was born from a passion for showing people around the Empordà; “taking a few Swedish visitors from a 6hr flight to a beach in Baix Empordà to eat fresh mussels and drink local wine, that’s priceless. We need no more feedback than their happy faces to carry on!”//