The headquarters of EDA Drinks & Wine Campus in Rioja Alavesa will strengthen the international project of wines and beverages from Laguardia.

EDA Drinks & Wine Campus is progressing on its roadmap. Specifically, the EDA Drinks & Wine Campus project was presented today in Laguardia to a group of representatives and agents from the wine sector who, through participative dynamics, expressed the needs and suggestions of the industry to shape the detailed definition of contents.

One of the key moments of the meeting was the announcement that Laguardia will host the EDA headquarters in Rioja Alavesa. This headquarters will strengthen the project alongside the headquarters in Vitoria-Gasteiz, combining synergies in favor of the wine and beverage value chain through university education, research, innovation, and support for entrepreneurship.

The plot where the Laguardia headquarters will be built is located near the "Casa del Vino" of this town, creating a conducive environment in this field. The plot covers 3,900 m2 and will host a new building of 2,500 m2, housing spaces oriented towards university education, research, and support for entrepreneurship.

The Rioja Alavesa headquarters will focus on the world of wine, aiming to attract talent, offer specialized high-value training, and develop research lines primarily focused on transferring knowledge to the sector.

Advanced education and knowledge are fundamental elements for the evolution of the wine sector. They respond to the need to foster sector growth from the perspective of talent evolution, considering the complexity and sophistication of wine production and other beverages. EDA's commitment is to drive innovation, entrepreneurship, and sustainability in the wine industry, enabling the development of more efficient techniques and the application of more sustainable practices that adapt to the challenges of this sector.

In an increasingly globalized world, EDA will contribute to building bridges that connect local traditions with international trends, reinforcing the territorial positioning of Euskadi and Rioja Alavesa.

In this context, EDA aims to position Araba at the level of major wine regions worldwide, such as Bordeaux, Napa, or Adelaide, also concerning high-level universities and specialized centers, already existing in those places. EDA plans to welcome its first students in September 2026, although activities will commence in 2024 through specialized courses, workshops, and specific training to be announced accordingly.

EDA Drinks & Wine Campus will contribute to transforming the beverage sector, becoming an international reference for innovation and providing a distinctive component to companies and entities in designing businesses, products, and services based on principles of quality, sustainability, and health, with both a local and global focus, generating economic and social development.

For the design of the two EDA headquarters, an architecture competition will be called to select the architectural firm responsible for the architectural project.

EDA is a project developed and led by the Basque Culinary Center, promoted by the Basque Government and the Provincial Council of Álava. The Basque Culinary Center constitutes a pioneering ecosystem of international reference where education, innovation, research, and entrepreneurship coexist with the aim of developing and promoting gastronomy, understood as reasoned knowledge about what we eat and how we do it.

Its mission is based on values ​​such as passion, innovation, orientation toward excellence, and social commitment. Established in 2011 in Donostia-San Sebastián, the Basque Culinary Center is a pioneering institution of the Faculty of Gastronomic Sciences and BCC Innovation, a Technological Center in Gastronomy.

The "beverages" universe is a world full of possibilities and, as such, has been very present in its education, both in the university degree through subjects in all courses, activities, and diverse initiatives that transfer knowledge of sommelier, wine marketing, or mixology to students, as well as in master's degrees and courses. Since 2013, the Basque Culinary Center has had the Master's in Sommelier and Wine Marketing, and various courses in mixology, bartending, or specialization in wine tourism, designed to provide training in the 360 degrees of the beverage sector and to learn about the technical language characteristic of areas such as oenology and tasting, sommelier skills, pairings, mixology, brewing, kombuchas, among others, as well as everything related to marketing, promotion, distribution, and exportation of wine and other beverages.