The Vi Menorca Fest was born with the desire to become a cultural and gastronomic initiative around the Menorca wine sector to highlight the quality of its wine and as an expression of a tradition, a landscape and a craft rooted in Menorca. A new event promoted jointly by the Maó City Council and the Menorca Wine Producers Association with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Balearic Government , the Department of Economy of the Menorca Island Council and the Menorca Tourism Promotion Foundation. The objective is to connect people, territory, culture and wine to highlight the quality of its wine and as an expression of a tradition, a landscape and a craft rooted in Menorca.
Three days of activities
The Vi Menorca Fest will take place from April 30 to May 3 and will be structured into three different days that will start with an inaugural conference on Thursday, April 30 at 7:00 p.m., in the Audience Hall of the Cloister of the Carme de Maó and will be given by Catalina Bibiloni , one of the most prominent voices in the field of culture and wine in the Balearic Islands. With a career linked to the dissemination, promotion of local products and the construction of a story around the territory, Bibiloni will provide an expert look at the past, present and future of Menorca wine, as well as its role as a cultural and identity element.
The highlight of the festival, however, will come on Saturday, May 2 from 12 noon to 11 pm, with a day in which the squares of Espanya and Carme in Maó will be transformed into an open-air venue, where the twelve wineries that produce Menorca wine will set up a route that will invite attendees to take an itinerary of discovery of all their products. The participating wineries will be Binifadet, Sa Cudia, Sa Forana, Binitord, Hort de Sant Patrici, Sa Marjaleta, Torralbenc, Alba Menorca, Domaine Santa Catalina, Son Cremat, Morvedra and Alparico.
It will be in this space where the Vi Menorca Fest will unfold its potential with the celebration of several workshops designed for all audiences with proposals that will range from aroma workshops to identify the sensory profiles of the wine as well as blind tastings of wines from the island to learn their differences and particular characteristics. The workshops will be led by sommelier Marcel Roland and viticulture technician, Núria Fullana . For the little ones, a children’s area will also be set up with pedagogical and creative activities linked to the world of the vineyard led by Sa Xaranga , where there will be a storyteller about the winemaking process and manual activities that will allow children to understand the cycle of the harvest and the winemaking process while they play. In addition, at sunset there will also be a wooden play area by CucuJocs.
Music, art and gastronomy throughout the day
The Vi Menorca Fest will also offer a diverse and festive musical program that will accompany the Saturday day and that will combine jazz, swing, soul, bossa nova and much more, with proposals for all audiences. The festival will open with the Menorca Hot Swing Trio , formed by Guillem Pons, Pablo Millas and Icar Toset, who will offer a classic swing repertoire with the great jazz standards, designed both for dancing and listening. Completing the proposal, the Talaiòtic Swing Menorca Association will create a social dance space with live music to bring Lindy Hop closer to the entire public in an open and participatory way. Then, the singer Marta Santamaría will present “Tómate una copa conmigo”, a sentimental journey that will cover tango, bolero, jazz, soul, samba and copla, inspired by her career in Seville, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Mexico and California.
After lunch, it will be DJ Bass Vi-Nyl ‘s turn with an exclusive vinyl session with classic jazz, soul and bossa nova tracks, an experience of musical pairing with the best wines of Menorca. The afternoon will be completed with Anna Szostak Trio , with singer Anna Szostak, double bassist Luis Gener and pianist Armando Lo Re, proposing an intimate and nuanced vocal jazz, where swing, bossa nova, bolero and contemporary pop arrangements will merge in warm and close atmospheres. The music festival will close with the show Mamma Mia Sing Along , starring singers Lore Arantzamendi, Adriana Aguilar, Julia Ortinez and Auba Villalonga, who will perform ABBA’s greatest hits, inviting the audience to sing and enjoy.
Live art and wine
Artist Kaori Ishihara will also participate in the Vi Menorca Fest with a unique artistic proposal, where she will create a live work of art using wine as a material, combining art and territory in a unique experience. Her intervention will take place on Saturday, May 2nd at sunset.
Participation of a dozen restaurants
At the gastronomic level and throughout the day, the Vi Menorca Fest will have the involvement of local restaurants, which will offer a proposal designed to complement the experience where several restaurants in the area will prepare a series of agile, quality and easy-to-consume proposals in a street environment, with the aim of strengthening the link between wine and Menorcan cuisine. The participating establishments will be Bar Augustin, Mercat Femenias, Es Mirador, Sa Botiga, Amano Menorca, El Trueno, Bar Marcelino, Bar La Barra, Bar Es Claustre and Pastisseria La Mirienda.
Open day at the wineries of Menorca
To close the Wine Menorca Fest , the following day, Sunday 3 May, an open day will be offered by reservation to several wineries in Menorca that can be visited so that all those interested in rounding out their experience can approach and maintain a more personal contact with their producers. The wineries that will offer open doors will be Binifadet, Binitord, Son Cremat, Hort de Sant Patrici and Sa Forana.
