More movement in the Penedès sparkling wine scene: two more wineries join Corpinnat

San Sadurní de AnoiaWhile the Penedès is still waking up from the beer toast at the TV3 New Year's Eve chimesSparkling wine producers are making more moves, demonstrating that we are living in a time of effervescent change. Two new wineries have just announced today that they are joining the Corpinnat brand, one of which previously belonged to the Cava DO. These are Torné & Bel, located in Espiells, and Mir, in Sant Sadurní. Torné & Bel has already submitted its resignation documentation to the Cava Regulatory Board. With these two additions, the Corpinnat sparkling brand, created in 2018It now has 21 wineries and grows by 75,000 more bottles.

In Espiells, a separate village from Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, Marta and Fèlix Torné, father and daughter, explain that they are making the change because they believe that "Corpinnat is the clear current commitment to the land, respect for the product, and dedication to the Penedès region." And it is precisely in Espiells, where the winery is located, that they know well what "commitment to the Penedès" means. Along with other wineries, they are part of the Espiells Terra de Vins association, with which they have been able to fight to stop the fourth ring road and the installation of solar panels.They say vineyards have been uprooted. "We're very close to the Baix Llobregat region, we're right on the edge, and we feel the pressure to bring in asphalt and new technology," the father and daughter explain. So, "if the winegrower, who is a gardener of the Penedès landscape, can't earn a decent living, if he can't earn a salary from the grapes he sells to wineries or presses himself to make wine, then the green of the vineyards will disappear." For both of them, joining Corpinnat means ensuring this philosophy.

To be able to label their sparkling wines with the Corpinnat brand, the Torné & Bel winery has had to undergo two audits in two years, which certified that they hand-harvest the grapes, that they are organic, that they press them in the winery itself (they don't buy base wine), and that there is a minimum aging of eighteen months. The distinctive feature of this winery in Espiells is that they maintain traditional practices such as riddling, with manual turning to allow the sediment to settle towards the neck of the bottle, and hot disgorging (without freezing the neck of the bottle).

At the Torné & Bel winery, Marta, and also her sister Anna, are the sixth generation of winemakers, with twelve hectares of vineyards inherited from their great-grandparents. The winery was built by the parents in 1991, and the first harvest was in 1997. "Until then, we brought the grapes in bulk, but 1997 was the year we started as winemakers," says Marta, who adds that they produce five sparkling wines: four white wines, one rosé, one rosé, and one white. Corpinnat indicates that the label can be used until 2030 due to the brand's commitment to traditional varieties. "We know, and we'll change it," they say. Among the future projects that excite them is an aged sparkling wine with a cork stopper, made from 100% Xarel-lo grapes from an amphitheater-shaped vineyard in Espiells. "It's a vineyard that curves, one of the few in the area, which has already aged for eighteen months, but we want to give it more time before releasing it to the market," the Torné family points out, adding that they produce 25,000 bottles a year, sold exclusively within Spain.

A winery with an ancient history

Meanwhile, in Gelida, Frenchmen Nicolas Marmonier and Christophe Ribeyron recount how their friendship as neighbors in Olivella led them to take over the Rossell Mir winery, which they have renamed Bodega Mir. "Josep Maria Rossell retired, and we decided to take the reins of the project in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, when we both wanted to work close to home," they explain. Thus, they carried out their first harvest in August 2020, and from the beginning, they have worked with Xavi Ortiz, the winemaker from Sant Sadurní. "The winery has a long history, dating back two hundred and fifty years, and Josep Maria represented the seventeenth generation; for all these reasons, we wanted to preserve its history, which is closely linked to the land," they say.

When Josep Maria Rossell was running the winery, he had already submitted his resignation to the Cava DO, and when the two friends took over, they agreed that they should join Corpinnat. "We believe in the power of collective action; we're French and we know the Champagne case, and we also share the brand's entire philosophy," they explain.

They produce four sparkling wines, aged for more than eighteen months and up to three years, and 70% of their production is exported. "We are committed to transparency, quality, and rigor, and in some cases, we even go beyond Corpinnat's standards, such as pressing whole grapes," they explain, adding that in this last harvest, they were paid between €0.92 and €1.05 per kilo of grapes. Both agree that "there can't be three sparkling wine brands in the Penedès region; one day this will have to stop, because internationally, it's painful to have to sell sparkling wine with so many different names." Furthermore, they believe that the end consumer is unaware of this. However, "when we explain what Corpinnat is, we realize that people are becoming increasingly aware." And they add that "even in Canada, people know what a Corpinnado is and what a cava is." Finally, the producers at the Mir winery, with fifty thousand bottles a year, state that "we are living through a tough time for wine in general." In the south of France and in Bordeaux, vineyards are being uprooted to plant other, currently more profitable, crops such as pistachios, and the farmers themselves are taking advantage of European Union subsidies to uproot their vineyards. "Joining a quality label means sharing values in a time of change," they conclude.