on drinking stars...

There comes a time in every woman's life when the only thing that helps is a glass of champagne. Bette Davis (in Old Acquaintance)

In victory, you deserve Champagne, in defeat, you need it. Napoleon Bonaparte

No celebration is complete without the magical bubbles...Since we have a large celebration coming up, the cyber cruise takes you today to Penedés, Catalonia's cava
region (Cava is the sparkling wine produced in Spain) in order to get our
needed supplies. First a map so you know your way around! the village
we are going to is Sant Sadurni.

Although EU law dictates that cava (or any other sparkling wine) cannot be referred to as “champagne”, Spain's bubbly shares many of the same features as its French counterpart, most notably the method by which it was made. The discovery of the méthode champenoise is famously credited to the French monk Dom Pérignon (c.1638 – 1715), who upon tasting it for the first time, is said to have shouted to his brethren, “Come quickly! I am drinking stars!” Literary references show that forms of sparkling wine have been produced in Spain since the 14th century, although it was not until 1872 that Joseph Raventós made cava a true commercial enterprise in Catalonia. Source

There are many cava producers in the Penedes area but our favorite one is Codorniu . Don't ask, it is so. This winery is the oldest and largest cava producer, the group's wine activities date back to 1551 ( a magical number which is also the name of one of their products you will see below) and they have been producing cava since 1872.


To go back to Cava’s routes we must backtrack to the 1870’s when a group of Catalan wine producers known as the “Seven Creek Sages” got together to discuss how to produce a sparkling wine to rival that of France’s Champagne. They invested heavily in equipment, vineyards and additional staff and in 1872 Josep Raventos produced 3,000 bottles of Cava as we know it today. The emphasis was placed on using grapes native to Spain to give the Spanish version of champagne its own character. These are still used today and the three main grapes that formulate Cava are Macabeu, Xarel-lo (also known as Pansá Blanca) and Parellada. Since 1986 Cava producers have also been allowed to integrate the Chardonnay grape in their DO (domain d’origen) and it has been steadily planted in the last 20 years. Source.

There are wonderful tours of the Codorniu winery in different languages but this time I forgot to book a reservation for a large group we'll get straight to business and do our shopping in the bodega, which is normally the place you are taken to after the tour and the cava tasting. Here is a link for a virtual stroll. Since we already know our way around , we take the car directly to the bodega. Disclaimer: I am not being paid for this post but I wish I was! with many free cases of fine cava . The imposing winery which houses the Codorníu cellars was built by the architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch who, together with Gaudí, was one of the outstanding exponents of the school of modern architecture. The Codorníu cellars were declared a National Monument of Historic and Artistic Interest in 1976, in view of their pure modernist style. Below is the left wing of the bodega, where you can park your car for loading purposes (the cases will be brought to you ) :

and now the right wing, and down below a self composition so you get the idea of the complete view




with a close-up of the roof decoration. Pls note the intensity of the blue sky, no photoshop done here!!

Inside the bodega the pictures didn't turn out very good and our cruisers got lost looking in the alleys, maybe you can spot someone...



and here the magnum (1.5 l) bottles of "1551"! the magical year when the winery got started.



The six official types of cava are as follows, depending on the sugar content:
|
Brut Nature - has no added sugar
Extra Brut - up to 6 grams of sugar per liter
Brut - up to 15 grams of sugar per liter
Extra Seco - between 12 & 20 grams of sugar per liter
Seco - between 17 & 35 grams per liter
Semiseco - between 33 y 50 grams per liter

It's all a matter of taste but my favorite is the brut nature... which one is yours??

When you leave the bodega we turn left to leave the winery but to the right you find this magnificent building which was originally the Raventós family mansion. There is a fabulous tower hiding behind the trees to the right:



Here you can see the tower , I just love this architecture.


Before we go let's take a look around, the garden is magnificent!


and a shot from the winery tour (available from the net as wallpaper) dedicated to Anna de Codorniu: she was an only child and married Mr Raventós in 1659. She was therefore the last one of the Codorniu's!

Anna de Codorníu. 85% chardonnay, 5% macabeo, 5% parellada (info from the net. But according to our Captain in the comments, she gets Chardonnay 90%, parellada 10% in Sweden... some research should be done about this issue!

Anna de Codorniu costs aprox 7euros (10 USD) /bottle

Besides enjoying the bubbles I am a cava tap collector, here you see the one for the Anna bottles. Cheers!! This post was brought to you by yours truly as part of the unique cyber cruises, home of THE Halloween party for all bloggers!