Raventós i Blanc

About Raventós i Blanc

Winegrowers since 1497. Five centuries working 90 hectares of vines and forest. A dynasty closely associated with the land from one generation to the next. Today, Pepe Raventós, who represents the twenty-first generation of the family, farms 44 plots using biodynamic winegrowing methods and is committed to maintaining the estate of vines, wood and lake as a complete entity. Raventós i Blanc is faithful to tradition and upholds the relationship between man and nature at the very core of its production philosophy.

It was Josep Raventós Fatjó who, when he went to the Champagne region in 1872, made the first sparkling wine with the second fermentation in the bottle, at all times using native grapes from our estate.

In 1888, at the end of the 19th century, Manuel Raventós Domènech established the coupage for the Penedès sparkling wine using exclusively native varieties: Macabeu, Xarel·lo and Parellada, a coupage that is still made today. He also spent his time to selecting the best vines of these native varieties, which form the basis for the vineyards that produce our wines today.

One of the most influential figures of the last century was, undoubtedly, Josep Maria Raventós i Blanc, heir of the Raventós Estate and Can Cordorniu; responsible for the expansion of Codorníu in the 1960s, promoter and creator of the Cava DO; he dreamed of producing a high-quality sparkling wine. He strived to secure the prestige of cava and in 1986, he founded the Josep Maria Raventós i Blanc winery, located in the centre of this historical estate. His dream was to restore the link between man and nature, and to aim for sparkling wines of the highest quality.

In 1986, Manuel Raventós i Blanc produced the first estate cava. Now joined by Pepe Raventós, son and grandson of Josep Maria Raventós, are in charge of making the grandfather’s dreams come true: converting this winery into an internationally renowned viticultural brand. Both these winemakers have made Raventós i Blanc one of the best sparkling wines in the world, faithful to a unique estate, a specific climate and a method that pursues excellence with minimum human intervention.

2012 Raventós i Blanc ~ The Creation of Conca del Riu Anoia

In 2012, Pepe decided that Raventós i Blanc should leave the Cava DO created by his ancestors which has become a generic catch all for Spanish sparkling across of 20 regions with limited quality criteria.

This coincided with the decision to create the Conca del Riu Anoia DO, because he strongly believes that there is an opening for wines like ours: authentic, coming from a single estate, a specific climate, native grape varieties and rigorous, precise and respectful winegrowing.

“I think that every generation should start from scratch, following their dreams, not just doing the same old things that have been done before”

Other makers have followed suit.

In 2013 a dozen producers seceded from the D.O. to start a new denomination, called Clàssic Penedès. It’s today an official D.O., now with 18 members.

In 2019, after years of living under Big Cava’s thumb, producers like Recaredo, Gramona and others had had enough too. Nine estates from Penedès broke ties and left the D.O. to bottle their wines under the brand name Corpinnat (roughly meaning “heart of Penedès” in Latin).

The fact that the producers have chosen to establish new classifications in the politically charged Spanish wine world and with the need for EU approvals is a testament to just how serious they are about the world recognising the importance of the best sparkling wines of Spain.

Spain’s most famous sparkling wine went from having, by default, a simple four-letter name to now potentially being labeled as Corpinnat, Clàssic Penedès or even Conca del Riu Anoia.

In the Vineyard

Like all of the great makers in the world we see a strong focus in the vineyard. Regenerative viticulture, biodiversity, working both above ground and below to restore the vitality of the soil are critical to their philosophy.

Biodynamics

Raventos i Blanc have one of the most comprehensive winery websites I’ve seen, including details of their biodynamic approach. If you enjoy the wine it’s well worth exploring.

In the Winery

Winemaking, Plot by Plot

Style and personality. The personality and the style of our sparkling wines are determined by our soil, by the native varieties and by the biodynamic winemaking, which favours the biodiversity, energy and life of the estate as much as possible. It is our soils of marine origin that give our wines most typicity, providing them with saline, mineral notes that make our sparkling wines different from those produced on other terroirs throughout the world.

The winemaking is typical of sparkling production. Whole bunch harvest, gentle pressing, settling to remove solids, cool ferments with a little time on lees for the base wines to develop.

Wines are aged for minimum of 18months on lees stepping up to significantly as you reach the ‘De La Finca’ and above.

Dosage is up to 5g/L at the start of the range and reduces as you lift through the heirachy to Brut Nature. The fully flavoured local varieties from low yielding vines enough depth and balance not to need dosage to compensate.

Where in the World is Raventós i Blanc?

Raventós i Blanc is based in Sant Sadurní on the Anoia river in Penedès, Catalunya just south of Barcelona.