The Fundació Catalunya Voluntària hosts in the Garraf county the international training internship visit ”Ecological wine production – studying the experience of Catalonia” from April 18 to May 9, with the participation of 8 young students, accompanied by two professors from the “Hristo Botev” School of Winemaking and Production in Perushtitsa (Bulgaria), who are going to learn in situ how the wine sector functions in two of the Catalan counties: Garraf and Baix Penedès, that are part of a Catalan denomination of origin for wine and cava (DO Penedès), counties where the vineyard has been part of the landscape and tradition for thousands of years.
This is the 3rd mobility for learning that the FCV has hosted in Vilanova i la Geltrú in the last 12 months, offering internships that are part of a non-formal and exchange learning program providing experiences that go beyond the internship itself, where students have to overcome challenges such as language, cultural shock or the activities that we propose (creative tasks and teamwork exercises) to meet various agents, people, and entities in the territory.
These days we will visit vineyards and wineries and we will meet professionals who will share their way of producing wine, experience, knowledge, and passion for the land they cultivate.
The group will have free time and the opportunity to enjoy the beach, to get to know the cities of Vilanova i la Geltrú, Vilafranca del Penedès, Barcelona, Sitges, Sant Sadurní de Anoia and the Montserrat mountain.
Beyond the logistical challenges of spending two weeks’ mornings carrying out tasks in different companies in the wine sector, the main challenge is organizing an activity for a group of teenagers who do not know English, who have never traveled so far from home, and who, to learn, must use not the acquisition of information or study, but their own actions, observations, and reflections.
This visit is the first internship activity for vocational students that FCV has organized after being the winning entity of the Bulgarian National Agency award for the best activity of the entire year 2021 in this specific action line (on the topic of ecological agriculture).
The activity takes place thanks to the collaborating wine sector companies, to which we are very grateful, including companies with several awards and recognitions, as well as thanks to the support of the Bulgarian national agency and the Erasmus + program of the European Commission.
We hope that the activity will be, once again, a profitable experience for all, participants and organizers.
For more information about the activity, you can send an email to projectes@catalunyavoluntaria.cat
Lluc Marti