For the twenty-first time, in the twenty-one rounds of Madrid Fusión, El Celler de Can Roca was at the most influential gastronomy conference to present its latest features. This time with Joan, Josep and Jordi Roca on stage. Something which, as Joan Roca said, "has not happened since 2017”. Not for nothing were all three present, because the Roca brothers were presenting Esperit Roca ("Roca Spirit"), a project intended to "encapsulate the landscape" on the basis of their liquid cuisine and offer it "not only to those visiting El Celler, but to the general public as well", explained Josep Roca.

The sommelier recalled how, ten years ago, they had made a start on "interpreting the landscape, acknowledging the land and making a stand for it" alongside their main botanist, Evarist March; a task that led to a proposal of fermentations, macerations and distillations producing over 150 separate items used at El Celler de Can Roca. Now "six of these products are going to the market with "Esperit Roca"”, announced the middle Roca brother.

To illustrate how these distillates and aromatics are both a liquid and a gastronomic source of inspiration, Joan Roca cooked up two recipes on stage. The first, "Ramats de foc” (Fire flocks), which is also "a commitment to breeders in charge of flocks "cleaning" woodland floors in order to prevent fires". Using the meat and milk from lambs in these flocks, Joan Roca served up three different varieties of the animal along with a Pyrenean herb root wine. The wine goes hand in hand with carob bean liqueur, "an alcoholic fermentation, treated as if it were wine, and the palate were Mediterranean sugar", explained Josep Roca, and Joan combined it with a dish that is an interpretation of various "royal hare" recipes. 

The youngest of the Roca brothers, Jordi, continued the theme of combinations with "Esperit Roca" products by connecting liquid cocoa offerings (cocoa gin, cocoa spirit and cocoa liqueur) to a reinterpretation of bread with chocolate and oil and a biscuit of cocoa and dried fruits with honey bread. 

With "Esperit Roca", the Girona threesome continue to treat the environment "with sustainable respect", in keeping with the new line produced with recycled glass - from 300 bottles to a maximum of 500, in a bid to "move into the territory with a genuine focus, with a large dose of purity and minimalism".