The history of the winery counts more than 130 years, during which more than a dozen wines were produced by the winemakers, including the famous Mas la Plana which beat the well promoted French Chateau Latour at the 1970 Paris Wine Olympics.
Today the wines from this old winery are exported to 115 countries of the world, and apart from the Catalan estate, the company's assets include vineyards in California and Chile.
Would you like to visit the place and taste the famous Spanish cava? Get in touch with us!
We will organise a fascinating tour of the estate of this old winery, whose name you will learn when we meet you. You will also learn about the wine culture from the owner himself and be able to taste the best wines.
You will learn about the different stages of the wine making process: from growing the grapes and harvesting to processing, casking and bottling. You'll then have free time in the vineyards to walk around the estate and sample the grapes from the bush.
Your wine tour continues in the cellars of the old winery where you can see how the wine is aged and stored. The final (and most important!) chord is getting to know the wine in the tasting room. You can taste between 2 and 5 types of wine and cava, and the cost of the tasting varies.
Cava & the Cava region Penedes
Penedès, a region situated close to Barcelona, is the centre of Catalan wine production. Penedes is marked on the map by a unique landmark, the Wine Museum, the capital of the region. The museum is housed in the former royal palace from the 13th century. In this wine museum you can learn about the history of the wine trade in Catalonia and the culture of wine consumption.
Penedes is a very attractive region, Gothic style, beautiful architecture, shops with Catalan wine at very reasonable prices. Wine in Barcelona is truly a magical drink of the highest quality.
The most common wine in Spain is the Rioja variety, which is a classic. The Penedès also produces wines of the highest class. Even before Christ, the finest wines of Catalonia were produced on these lands. The exceptional terrain, great altitude variations, and very fertile soil give the wines produced in this area an impressive flavour.
Cultivated crops for local use as well as international varieties destined for export are cultivated in the Penedès.
Catalan cava: the sparkling wine of the Penedès
The tradition of winemaking in Penedès is many thousands of years old and has been carefully preserved, helping to produce a delicious Catalan wine. The cava, a sparkling drink similar to champagne, was first produced in the Penedès. The idea of creating a wine capable of uplifting a hundred air bubbles is not a repetition of the French drink. After all, Champagne has always been a symbol of luxury, while cava was on the contrary created as a democratic wine, accessible to everyone.
With its rich, fruity taste, cava is uplifting and optimistic. Penedes is not only famous for its cava, but also for its special attitude towards wine making. Tourists from all over the world come to Penedes to see the wineries and taste the best vintages. However, some representatives of this sparkling wine are superior to champagne.
Wine and gastronomy tour to Penedes and the Cava Palace
The place we want to show you is a small estate with one building, and underneath the ground there are the cellars and production. If you come here on a tour you won't see the vineyards, they are located elsewhere.
The wine production company has its own vineyards and a contract with farms that supply high quality raw materials. "Cava Palace" is the first thing that comes to mind. When you first enter the winery, the feeling of unbelievability lingers. What awaits you is not a provincial house in the middle of the Penedes, but a real palace of gold and marble. The Mistress of the Palace is sure to meet you.
It seems that the wife of the owner should be resting in the best world resorts rather than greeting tourists, but in this place everything is different. The hostess is very friendly to guests and very demanding to employees.
The culture shock continues during the next encounter, as the guide is a neat young man in a uniform and carrying a torch. Catalans are not fans of the business dress code, and here everything is strict.
The wine cellars are three levels deep and two kilometres long. Bottles of cava are lined up along the walls traditionally in a strictly horizontal position and corked with metal stoppers for the time of ageing, so that the smell of the stoppers does not add to the drink's aroma. Cava is known to be a demanding beverage, especially with regard to smell.
The cellars are built in the traditional Catalan style, are 23 metres deep and have vaulted arches. Moving around in the wine cellar is not difficult; everything is very simple and straightforward. The long corridors are like city streets, each with its own name. In the illuminated bottles mounted on the walls you can see the settling yeast.
Winery tour in Penedes
The tour takes you through each stage of the making of a magical beverage.
The winery owner makes cava from three indigenous grape varieties, Charello, Parellada and Macabeo. They grow here at three well-defined elevations. The wine is kept in both wooden barrels and bottles.
The main secret kept by the Pere Ventura winery is a room called the Chapelle. The high vaulted ceiling resembles a church altar. While no electricity is used, the room is filled with candle sticks, a sacred place to store the best bottles of cava. Here is host and his guests open one of the bottles of cava at exceptionally important moments in their lives.
The tour ends with a demonstration of the final stage in wine production: corking and labelling. Before the festivities, the place gets really hot. During the Christmas rush, for example, the line produces up to 100 bottles of cava an hour.
The 2,500 square metre hall for producing Catalan wine is located underground and has the latest equipment.
Constant control over wine production allows you to be sure of the quality of your drink. Interestingly, the winery owner comes from a noble family of winemakers. His ancestors produced Catalan wine over a hundred years ago, and they were among those who made cava in the early days of sparkling wine.
Pere Ventura personally supervises each stage and therefore vouches for the quality of the produced sparkling wine. The tour ends with a tasting with traditional Catalan snacks: almond truffles, bread bars, smoked sausage and hard cheese.
Top 3 varieties of cava in Penedes
Tresor Rosé: Barcelona's most titled wine, 100% of its composition is a rare Trepat red grape variety that only grows in Spain.
Tresor Brut Reserva is a true treasure, an elegant blend of the three traditional cava grapes of Charello, Macabeo and Parellada. A classic Catalan wine, produced in the best traditions.
Brut Reserva Cupatge D´Honor Vintage 2011: a blend of Charello and Chardonnay, a refined, dense and harmonious aroma and taste of a mature wine.
You're probably already eager to visit the Сava region, see it all for yourself and taste the wine with some fabulous Spanish appetisers... After the tasting you will enjoy a freshest lunch cooked by an invited chef right at the winery or you'll stay in a boutique wine hotel where you can enjoy a fabulous dinner by the chef and spa.
