Vitoria (EFE).- Álava will open a center on wine and beverages, promoted by the Basque Culinary Center (BCC) and the institutions in Vitoria and Rioja Alavesa.
This new center for training, research and innovation in the beverage and wine sector aspires to have between 200 and 300 students already in its first course 2025-2026.
The project, promoted by the Álava Provincial Council and the Basque Government and developed by the Basque Culinary Center -the center for training and innovation in cooking based in San Sebastián- has been presented in Vitoria.
The Basque Government has already consigned a game of 9.6 million euros for its development this year.
The Álava Provincial Council will also provide money and buildings.
It will have two headquarters, one dedicated to training, in Vitoria, in a place not yet specified, and another, the one that will be in direct contact with the sector, in Rioja Alavesa.
The exact location has not yet been decided, although one of the possible locations is the Samaniego palace, in Laguardia.
Wine as the center, plus drinks
Joxe Mari Aizega, general director of the Basque Culinary Center, which will be in charge of developing the project, explained that it will have wine as its center.
It will also pay attention to other alcoholic beverages, such as txakoli, cider, beers and spirits, and non-alcoholic beverages such as teas and coffees.
It will be called Edariak eta Ardoa (EDA) Drinks & Wine Campus, and it will consist of four axes: training, research, support for entrepreneurship and events, just like the way it works at the BCC in San Sebastián.
The first axis will be training: the objective is to start the 2025-2026 academic year with a degree with a “360° vision” on beverages, plus various specialized master’s degrees.
Between 200 and 300 students are expected per normal, full-time course, plus those who arrive for specialized courses.
The objective is international, with teaching in English and Spanish, in the style of the BCC, which has students of 38 nationalities.
The academic project will take into account all the related disciplines, from the laboratory and the sciences, cooking and the avant-garde, the living room, business, design, tourism and leisure, to history, sociology, or communication and marketing.
It will also cover all agents in the value chain, from the production of raw materials, processing, distribution and marketing, the Horeca channel (hospitality) and tourism.
Knowledge and innovation about wine
The second axis of the project will be innovation and research, generating knowledge that can be applied to the wine sector and beverage companies.
The third, the commitment to entrepreneurship, with the promotion of “start ups” (new companies), and finally, the celebration of events around the world of beverages.
Ramiro González, deputy general of Álava, has stressed that it is a project with international projection.
At the same time, it will serve to connect Vitoria and La Rioja Alavesa so that both regions walk together.
Arantxa Tapia, Minister of Economic Development, has also stressed that the project will add value to the sector, from viticulture to wineries and other beverages. EFE