EDA Drinks & Wine Campus in Rioja Alavesa will strengthen the international wine and drinks project in the Basque Country from Laguardia

• EDA Drinks & Wine Campus will have two locations, one in Vitoria-Gasteiz and the other in Laguardia, with an international outlook and a comprehensive vision, to strengthen the value chain of wine and drinks through university training, research, innovation and support for entrepreneurship
• The Laguardia headquarters will be a new building and will be built on a 3,900 m² plot of land. Focused on the world of wine, its objectives are to attract talent, offer high value specialised training, and develop lines of research focused on the transfer of knowledge to the sector
• EDA Drinks & Wine Campus is a project developed and led by the Basque Culinary Centre and promoted by the Basque Government and the Provincial Council of Alava

EDA Drinks & Wine Campus roadmap advances. Specifically, the EDA Drinks & Wine Campus project was presented today in Laguardia to a group of representatives and agents of the wine sector, who expressed, through a participatory dynamic, the needs and suggestions of the sector to configure the detailed definition of contents.

One of the key moments of the meeting was the announcement that Laguardia will host EDA's headquarters in Rioja Alavesa. This site will strengthen the project together with the Vitoria-Gasteiz site, adding synergies both in favour of the wine and drinks value chain through university training, research, innovation and support for entrepreneurship.

The plot where the Laguardia headquarters will be built is located in an area close to the "Casa del Vino" in this town, which will provide a favourable environment in this area. The plot is 3,900 m² and a new 2,500 m² building will be built on it, which will house spaces for university training, research and support for entrepreneurship.

The Rioja Alavesa headquarters will be focused on the world of wine and its objective is to attract talent, offer high-quality, specialised training. It will also develop lines of research whose main objective will be the transfer of knowledge to the sector.

Advanced training and knowledge are basic elements for the evolution of the wine sector. They respond to the need to grow the sector from the perspective of the evolution of talent, taking into account the complexity and sophistication of the production of wine and other beverages. EDA's commitment is to promote 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 globalised world, EDA will contribute to building bridges that will connect local traditions with international trends, reinforcing the territorial positioning of the Basque Country and Rioja Alavesa.

EDA seeks to position Araba at the level of the great wine regions of the world, such as Bordeaux, the Napa Valley and Adelaide, also promoting universities and high-level specialized centres, which already exist in these places. EDA plans to receive its first students in September 2026, although the activity will start in 2024 through specialised courses, workshops and specific training courses that will be announced as and when.

EDA Drinks & Wine Campus will contribute to the transformation of the drinks sector, becoming an international benchmark for innovation and providing a differential component to companies and entities in the design of businesses, products and services using the principles of quality, sustainability and health, with a local and global approach and generating economic and social development.

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

EDA is a project developed and led by the Basque Culinary Centre, promoted by the Basque Government and the Provincial Council of Alava. The Basque Culinary Centre forms a pioneering ecosystem of international reference where training, innovation, research and entrepreneurship coexist with the aim of developing and promoting gastronomy — the reasoned knowledge about what we eat and how we do it. 

Its mission is based on values such as passion, innovation, focus on excellence and social commitment. Located since 2011 in Donostia-San Sebastián, the Basque Culinary Centre is a pioneering institution formed by the Faculty of Gastronomic Sciences and the BCC Innovation, Technological Centre in Gastronomy.

The drinks universe is a world full of possibilities and as such, it has been very present in their training, both at the university level, through subjects in all courses, activities and initiatives of various kinds that transfer knowledge of sommelier, wine marketing and cocktail-making to students, as well as master's degrees and courses. Since 2013, the Basque Culinary Centre has offered a Master's Degree in Sommelier and Wine Marketing, and various courses in cocktails, bartending and specialisations in wine tourism. These are designed give all-round training in the drinks sector and to teach the technical language characteristics of areas such as oenology and tasting, sommelier, pairings, cocktails, brewing and kombuchas, among others, as well as everything related to the marketing, promotion, distribution and export of wine and other drinks.