THE SIXTH EDITION OF THE MADRID FUSIÓN ALIMENTOS DE ESPAÑA WINE CONGRESS KICKS OFF
- Almudena Alberca MW brought together Sara Pérez, César Márquez, Fernando Mora MW, Maite Sánchez and Fernando Maíllo this Monday to decipher slate terroir and its organoleptic impact.
- Ferran Centelles presented Volume VIII of the Bullipedia: Wine as an Emotional Catalyst in the Customer Experience; while François Chartier unveiled the results of his latest research in aromatic science: What if aromas had colors?
- The rise of Spanish wines in the Philippines was showcased in the first Vinomio 60’ of the event, through a fusion of Filipino cuisine and Spanish labels, led by chef Chele González and Paula Menéndez of In Wine Veritas.
- Alberto Fernández Bombín and Fernando Mora MW turned Andoni Luis Aduriz, Josep Roca and Iván Cerdeño into blind-tasting contestants, in a dialogue between cuisine and wine with audience participation.
- Pilar Cavero (ABC) closed the day with a debate on cooperativism, micro-wineries, nomadic winemakers and wine coworking.
Madrid, January 26, 2026. Benjamín Lana, Managing Director of Madrid Fusión, inaugurated the sixth edition of The Wine Edition Wines from Spain with a clear objective: “We are trying to tear down all the walls that, unintentionally, we wine lovers keep building; we must continue working to win people back and turn the world of wine into something more open and social.”
On the first morning of the congress, Master of Wine Almudena Alberca brought together five leading producers on stage to talk about slate terroir: Sara Pérez (Priorat), César Márquez (Bierzo), Fernando Mora MW (Calatayud), Maite Sánchez (Cebreros) and Fernando Maíllo (Salamanca).
In this master tasting, the conversation revolved around the characteristics of slate terroir and its impact on both vineyard cultivation and the organoleptic profile of wines. “Soil is one of the factors that most affects the organoleptic characteristics of the final wine,” Alberca emphasized. “That’s why today we’re talking about slate.”
The Spanish Master of Wine sought the essence of slate in wines through different grape varieties, regions and winemaking approaches. “There are very different types of slate, but what matters in Priorat is the fracture of the terrain, because that determines whether water is retained or not, and whether other sediments can enter,” noted Sara Pérez, head of Mas Martinet.
César Márquez, for his part, highlighted the richness of Bierzo’s soils and their reflection in the complexity of its wines. “Our slate soils are on slopes above 600 meters in altitude, in the form of rock covered with decomposed slate and schist; in these soils, white varieties play a fundamental role alongside mencía, as they soften the rusticity,” he explained.
“In Gredos we are surrounded by granite soils; the slate area is small, but it manages to concentrate the grapes more and give the wines that ferrous touch that characterizes these terroirs,” commented Maite Sánchez, winemaker at Bodegas Arrayán.
Fernando Maíllo surprised attendees with a rufete serrano blanco, a rare indigenous variety from the Sierra of Salamanca. “One of the consequences of slate soils being so poor is that fermentation is very slow, and we have to work more with the lees to create more glyceric wines,” the winemaker explained.
From Aragón, Fernando Mora MW showcased the mineral and saline side of the soils of Calatayud, where slate blends with other types of terroir, through a distinctive old-vine garnacha from Bodegas Frontonio.
The aging capacity these soils lend to wines, as well as the quality of rainy vintages, were other benefits of slate terroir highlighted by the speakers.
Wine as an emotional catalyst
Ferran Centelles continued the morning with the theoretical session Wine as an Essential Part of the Customer Experience, in which the author of the Bullipedia presented Volume VIII of The Wine Sapiens.
“Wine is not just an accompaniment; it is an element that can transform the entire restaurant experience,” explained the former elBulli sommelier. In his presentation, Centelles outlined the research carried out and the key ideas that help explain how wine contributes to value creation, emotion and memory for the diner.
From choosing the right glassware to sell more wine, to managing space and table layout, prioritizing reservations or reducing waiting times, this new Bullipedia volume aims to help restaurants adapt to customer preferences and optimize resources.
To support his presentation and add a liquid note to the masterclass, the sommelier poured two distinctive wines that have surprised him in recent months and that somehow represent the current revolutionary moment in the wine world, in contrast with consumer perception: an airén aged on lees from Garage Wine in Quintanar de la Orden (Toledo), and a 2009 red from Bodegas Buezo in Arlanza.
“Customers have many prejudices before tasting a wine, such as believing that the airén grape doesn’t make good wines,” he explained. Every detail matters when aiming to elevate the customer’s sensory journey. “Among the things we discovered while writing this book is the issue of noise and how it can influence the gastronomic experience and the perception of wine.”
To conclude his talk, Centelles encouraged sommeliers to explain wine through emotion: “When we use this language, we touch the amygdala and increase dopamine; it’s been studied that we feel more pleasure. If we want to motivate customers’ enjoyment, with humility, it has to seem like we know what we’re talking about.”
The color of aromas
Monday morning came to an end with François Chartier’s pairing tasting: from the aromatic DNA of wines to gastronomic DNA. What if aromas had colors? “It’s not a visual color, but a mental one—the way our brain translates our perception of that aroma,” argued the expert. “Pairing is not a recipe; it’s a grammar that can be smelled.”
In this masterclass, the world’s leading authority on aromas premiered the results of the studies that will be published in his 30th book. He explained how to identify the aromatic DNA of Spanish wines and how to transform it into gastronomic DNA through his aromatic science of molecular harmonies.
Using a selection of great Spanish wines with singular DNA (from Tenerife to Mallorca, via Galicia, Aragón, Catalonia and Jerez) and ingredients that share their dominant aromatic molecules, Chartier showed how wine can dialogue with food at a molecular level. A live demonstration that offered sommeliers and chefs a clear, structured and applicable method for building more coherent, precise and memorable pairings and recipes.
Spanish wines in the Philippines
Chele González, the first Spanish Michelin-starred chef in the Philippines, presented a pairing during the first Vinomio 60’ of The Wine Edition Wines from Spain that fused product-driven, roots-based cuisine with some of the Spanish wines that have conquered the most demanding Asian markets.
With the invaluable help of Paula Menéndez from In Wine Veritas, the Cantabrian chef explored how high-altitude garnachas, mountain godellos and Mediterranean reds adapt to Japanese, Chinese and Korean palates—proof of the global projection of Spanish wine. “Spanish wines are part of the concept of my projects, the foundation of that tapas concept with Filipino flavor that defines my cuisine,” he commented.
“There is a lot of Spanish wine on offer in the Philippines, and the market is growing because consumers are asking for different things,” stated Paula Menéndez. According to data presented during the session, Filipinos drink more red wine than white (75% versus 25%), mostly light reds with soft tannins.
Chele González, for his part, acknowledged that “people in the Philippines eat less, are more conscious about quantities and health, and the market demands that prices do not rise—or even be lower—while all our ingredients cost more.” The solution, the chef confessed, has been to reduce portion sizes: “Smaller dishes, more affordable prices.” A win-win.
Chefs in the blind
Early in the afternoon, Fernando Mora MW and Alberto Fernández Bombín captured the attention of the many attendees at the open auditorium of The Wine Edition Wines from Spain with six pairs of international chefs, including Spaniards Andoni Luis Aduriz, Josep Roca and Iván Cerdeño, who became impromptu contestants in a blind tasting.
The Top Tasting thus became a serious game: a lineup of wines served without clues, forcing chefs to sharpen their sensory memory, intuition and discourse about what they were drinking, “pressured” by audience participation.
The fun session proposed an open dialogue between cuisine and wine, where each glass was interpreted, questioned and defended out loud, revealing how chefs think and feel when wine stops being an accompaniment and becomes the protagonist. “Wine should be taken seriously—but with laughter,” concluded Benjamín Lana in his farewell.
Collaborative wineries
To close Monday’s program, Pilar Cavero (ABC wine critic) presented alternative wine business models: cooperative work, micro-wineries, nomadic winemakers and wine coworking, joined by Núria Renom of the eponymous winery, Òscar Navas of La Furtiva and Batussa, and Iván Gómez of Bodegas Gratias.
The round table addressed cooperativism, wine coworking, and the recovery of spaces and techniques: how cooperation works in winemaking, how reclaiming spaces and techniques affects artisanal production, and the importance of sharing tools, materials and ideas.
“What happens when you don’t have financial backing, family, tradition or structure, but you want to start out in the world of wine?” asked Pilar Cavero to open the session. Òscar Navas, in Terra Alta, was fortunate to be mentored by friendly wineries in his early years, which later allowed him to set up a project that invites collaborative production. “It’s like sharing an apartment—there are decisions you can’t make exactly as you’d like, but there’s also a very beautiful sense of community,” he said.
Núria Renom’s case is different. Born in Buenos Aires, she now lives and works in a shared winery in Penedès where all producers share the same natural philosophy: “There are as many ways of understanding wine as there are of understanding life; and it’s very interesting to find those other perspectives, those other ways of understanding the economy.”
Wine changed when we stopped talking about wineries and started talking about people, Cavero recalled—people with first and last names, like those who give life to Bodegas Gratias in La Manchuela, which operates through crowdfunding. “We started in our home garage, then moved to a shared winery, and later began working old vineyards of abandoned varieties,” explained Iván Gómez. The way to save those vineyards was to involve more people—individuals who become patrons and receive the wine once it is made. “It’s a very dynamic model, a product line that has practically overtaken the one we started with.”
In other sectors, such as music or art, collaborations are commonplace; in the wine world, however, they are harder to find. For these pioneers, working with other passionate people is not a necessity—it’s a way of life that speaks of craftsmanship, freedom, and unconditional, shared love for wine. “Our model will never be based on competition, but on alliance, because production volumes are very limited,” Renom pointed out.
As reflected in the session, collaborative philosophy and natural wine go hand in hand. For the head of Bodegas Gratias, “natural wine is more than sulfites or no sulfites; it’s territory, recovering a history, grape varieties, learning from winegrowers, enjoying time with friends, and making people happy with what they do.” Defending the beauty of the human element.
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