Catalan wine

Catalan wines are those that are produced in the Spanish wine region of Catalonia. Occasionally, the appellation is applied to some French wine made in the Catalan region of Roussillon because of the transfer of French territories that currently are part of Spain. The city of Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia and despite not being in a wine region (although a portion of the Penedès is in the greater comarca of Barcelona) it is the focal point of the Catalan wine industry: a primary consumer market, its port provides export fictions and a source of financial resources and investment.

The area has a long winemaking tradition and was the birthplace of the sparkling wine Cava, invented in the early 1870s in Sant Sadurní d'Anoia by Josep Raventos of Codorníu Winery. At the turn of the 20th century, the Catalan wine industry was at the forefront of Spain's emergence as a world leader in quality wine production, being the first Spanish wine region to adopt the use of stainless steel fermentation tanks. The area is also an important cork production region, with output aimed primarily at the region's Cava houses.

Catalonia

Catalonia (Catalan: Catalunya, Occitan: Catalonha, Spanish: Cataluña) is an autonomous community of Spain politically designated as a nationality. Catalonia consists of four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. The capital and largest city is Barcelona, the second-largest city in Spain and the centre of one of the largest metropolitan areas in Europe and the Mediterranean basin.

Catalonia comprises most of the territory of the former Principality of Catalonia, with the remainder now part of France's Pyrénées-Orientales. It is bordered by France and Andorra to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the east, and the Spanish autonomous communities of Aragon to the west and Valencia to the south. The official languages are Catalan, Spanish, and the Aranese dialect of Occitan.

HSC Express

Express is a 91-metre (299 ft) wave piercing catamaran built by International Catamarans (Incat), and operated by Nordic HSC between mainland Sweden and Gotland. During her delivery voyage on 9 June 1998, she set the record for the fastest Atlantic Eastbound Record, previously held by another Incat craft Hoverspeed Great Britain, making the 3,125 mi (5,029 km) run from Manhattan to Tarifa, Spain in 3 days 7 hours 54 minutes, traveling at an average speed of 38.877 knots (72.000 km/h; 44.739 mph).

During that same voyage, the ship became the first passenger ship to cover or more in one 24-hour period. In covering 1,018 nautical miles (1,885 km) in one day, beating the 868 mi (1,397 km). record set by SS United States in 1952. Six weeks later, sister craft HSC

As of January 2016 P&O announced that they will scrap the Larne-Troon service provided by HSC Express, this will end 25 years of a fastcraft Service between Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Mediterranean service

Following her record breaking Atlantic Ocean crossing the vessel changed name to Catalonia L and entered service with Buquebus between Barcelona and Palma, Majorca and later between Ceuta, Malaga and Algeciras.

Principality of Catalonia

The Principality of Catalonia (Catalan: Principat de Catalunya, Latin: Principatus Cathaloniæ, Occitan: Principautat de Catalonha), is a historic territory and a medieval and early modern political entity in the northeastern Iberian Peninsula, mostly in Spain, with an adjoining portion in southern France. Between the 13th and the 18th centuries it was bordered by the Kingdom of Aragon to the west, the Kingdom of Valencia to the south, the Kingdom of France and the feudal lordship of Andorra to the north and by the Mediterranean sea to the east.

The first reference to Catalonia and the Catalans appears in the Liber maiolichinus de gestis Pisanorum illustribus, a Pisan chronicle (written between 1117 and 1125) of the conquest of Minorca by a joint force of Italians, Catalans, and Occitans. At the time, Catalonia did not yet exist as a political entity, though the use of this term seems to acknowledge Catalonia as a cultural or geographical entity.

The counties that would eventually make up the Principality of Catalonia were gradually unified under the rule of the Count of Barcelona. In 1137, both the County of Barcelona and the Kingdom of Aragon were unified dynastically, creating the Crown of Aragon, but Aragon and Catalonia retained their own political structure and legal traditions. Because of these legal differences and their use of different language —Aragonese and Catalan— an official recognition of the Catalan Counties as a distinct political entity with its own institutions, laws and political community became necessary.