Penedès is a region under an hours drive east from Barcelona, from a wine perspective it is most famous as the home of Cava, the Spanish sparkling wine. Cava has it’s own Denominación de Origen (DO) under the Spanish wine law, with a majority of Cava produced in Penedès (more than 90%). In addition to DO Cava, there are a number of wine makers in the Penedès region that have formed a new designation called Corpinna (translating to “Heart of Penedès”) which is of a higher standard but is not currently officially recognised as part of the Spanish wine law.
- Climate: Penedès is within Catalunya on the north-east coast of Spain which has a Mediterranean climate, however there are three distinct sub-zones which are
- Baix Penedès - translating to ‘low' in Catalan is the lower coastal plains which has a hot climate
- Alt Penedès - higher elevations from 500m and up to 800m above sea level resulting in a higher diurnal range and resulting in a more moderate climate producing the freshest styles
- Medio Penedès - the transitional area between the two sub-zones of coastal plains and the vineyards in attitude which has a warm climate and produces a majority of the grapes for Cava
- Grapes: Traditional grape varieties for Cava production include Macabeo (Viura), Xarel-lo and Parellada for the white wines and Garnacha and Monastrell for the roses. However there are also significant plantings of international such as Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Gewurztraminer, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, UII de Llebre (the Spanish name for Tempranillo) and Pinot Noir.
- Wine Style: Spanish sparkling wine is renowned in this region, called Cava which has its own DO. All Cava must use the labour intensive Traditional Method in the making of the sparkling wine (the same method used for Champagne). In additional to using Traditional Method, a lot of wineries also produce sparkling wine using the “Pet Nat” (Pétillant Naturel), also known as the “Ancestral” method (where the wine finishes fermentation within the bottle without performing any disgorgement, that is the dead yeast is not removed). Still wines are also produced in the area under the Penedès DOP.
- Size and Yield: Penedès has approx. 25,000 hectares under vine
Winery
The wineries have a wine tour that includes a tour of their winery with a sharing of their history and of the region and then followed by a wine tasting. Quite core to each of the winery is their history to the area, where the ownership lineage is usually shared of the winery based on the documents from the local monastery. Not only do they take pride on their history as locals in the area, but also on their wine making philosophy which is using the “organic wine growing” principals even through they are not officially certified.
- Llopart (map) - A beautiful winery part of the Corpinnat designation, the wine tour includes a short walk around their modern facility and into their maturation room with thousands of bottles in their second fermentation process.
- Celler Eudald Massana (map) - A smaller winery where the wine tour starts
off with a Cava tasting in their vineyard over looking the vines that produced the grapes you are tasting!
Accommodation
- Hotel Boutique Font de la Canya (map) -
A beautiful hotel which was once someone’s home, they specialise on events with accommodation but it is just wonderful and peaceful to just stay a night. It is close to a number of the wineries in Penedès so a great location to base yourself from. Breakfast is included, there is an restaurant for dinner which serves great food (but there are not many food options nearby) and during the day there is an open pantry that has wine (sparkling, red and white) and some snacks such as chips (crisps), bread with olive oil etc
Additional Information
Depending on the time available and your objective, a suggested itinerary is to spend a few days in Barcelona, then hiring a car (back) at Barcelona airport (as it is on the east side of the city) and then driving under an hour to Penedès and staying for 1 night (if you like sparkling you can stay longer). Then you can continue east for another 1.5 hours to Priorat DOQ for a few nights before heading back to Barcelona airport (packed with your wine purchases).
References