Today we are visiting Spain’s oldest winery. It’s located just outside Barcelona and it’s called Codorniu.
As always, you can find our YouTube video at the end of the post. Check it out!
Come along for a full tour of the winery, where I will show you the old buildings and equipment, the Cava making process and we go down deep in the underground where a train will take us around in the enormous cellars.
Codorniu Winery is located 30 km southwest of Barcelona. It’s open daily and offers a few different tours. We go for their Iconic Tour which lasts for around 105 minutes and includes tasting 3 of their premium cavas. All information is available on their website where you can also book their tours. Tours are available in Spanish, English, Catalan and French.
Codorniu was founded 1551 and is the oldest winery in Spain and also one of the oldest in the world. During the first 300 years they were producing normal wines and it was first in 1872 when the first bottle of cava was created, using the traditional method. 13 years later the business was expanded and they became a major producer of cava. They are now the second largest producer of cava in the world, after Freixenet.
the tour
The main building as you enter the Codorniu estate is designed by the great Josep Puig i Cadafalch, famous for buildings like Casa Amatller, Casa Marti and la Casa Macaya. This is the starting point for the tours and it’s an amazing building. We pass by the Codorniu Manor House, the original residence of the family.
Through the beautiful gardens we make our way to the Big Cellar, called Bodega Grande. The building is filled with old machinery, some dating back to the 16th century. It’s a true beauty designed by Josef Puig i Cadafalch and here you can also see Montserrat in the background.
underground
Through an old machinery room we make our way downstairs. It’s time to go underground and we go deep into the cellars below the estate. You quickly start to smell the old cellars, musty and stale air. There is a total of 30km of cellars, distributed among four floors. There is capacity to store up to 100 million bottles here. We jump onto an electric train that takes us through a 1.5km long ride. These cellars are huge.
It’s time to do some tasting and we are lucky enough to get to try their ARS collection.
tasting
We start with a Blanc de Noirs Reserva from 2017. It is a unique blend of the Pinot Noir, Xarel-lo and Trepat grape varieties that gives it an acidic yet elegant flavour and it has earned a wide variety of distinguished awards.
Next up is a Grand Rosé Reserva from 2020. This is a rosé cava with a unique and original coupage that combines the Pinot Noir variety with Xarel lo and Trepat, obtaining a fresh and balanced cava.
Finally we get to try the 2015 Josep Raventos Gran Reserva. This cava is a homage to the legacy of Josep Raventós, who made the first cava in history, 150 years ago. Made using meticulously selected grapes and winemaking practices including. Xarel-lo, Parellada, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Macabeo. The 2015 vintage is the first release of this Cava.
All Cavas were really top class, but the 2015 Gran Reserva was our favourite.
See our YouTube video from our visit here:
