That the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) Cava, which in addition to the traditional wineries of Penedès –90% of production is made in Catalonia– integrates others from territories such as Aragon, Navarre, La Rioja, the Basque Country, the Valencian Community and Extremadura, was not a very comfortable arrangement for some producers was already known. The product's visibility is not very uniform, probably due to the disparity of origins, and the state-level regulations governing the designation do not satisfy some producers.

In Sant Sadurní d’Anoia and in the Penedès region in general, everyone knew it would eventually happen, but no one knew when. The day has arrived. The Juvé & Camps winery, from Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, has abandoned the Cava designation of origin to enter its annual production of two and a half million sparkling wines into the Corpinnat brand. After two exhaustive audits in which Corpinnat verified that the winery meets the requirements to be included, Juvé & Camps submitted its withdrawal request to the Regulatory Council of Cava last Wednesday. "We have taken a natural step, and it was a decision made with great prudence," explains the CEO, Meritxell Juvé, adding that in a company that works with the future in mind, everything is well thought out. She says this because Juvé & Camps sparkling wines have a resting period of six to seven years before they are released to the market, and because the winery is centenary. "My father is 83 years old and is aware of everything. In fact, he himself says he won't make a mistake with the words Cava or Corpinnat, because he always says he makes Juvé & Camps," says his daughter.

A good harvest after three years of drought and an expansion in the number of wineries boosted Corpinnat's sales in 2025. The collective brand of sparkling wines from the Penedès region grew by 27%. compared to the previous year...to €34.13 million.

Jaume Vial Quintana (Maçanet de Cabrenys, 1959) is a highly respected figure in the world of sparkling wine. In recent years, we've known him as the head of Bodega Mestres, famous for its long aging processes. He wore the winery's colors with such pride and dedication that many people only discovered on its centenary celebration that he wasn't the owner. "I've never claimed to be the boss. I'm a professional who had the family's trust. And I'll always be grateful for that. Every job I've taken on, I've approached as a personal challenge. I took on the Mestres challenge thinking it would be my last," he explained to ARA. But it wasn't.

Interview Ernestina Torelló (1942, Barcelona) at Torelló Viticultors, the family winery he owns in Gelida. On January 20th, it was drizzling and the weather was bad when all the building's perimeter alarms started blaring. It was almost nine o'clock at night, and he went out to see what was happening. Near his house, he found firefighters and police asking if they could bring any injured people home. His winery is located just a few meters from the site of the fire. the R4 commuter rail line accident in which a train driver lost his life. Ernestina Torelló didn't hesitate; she brought everyone inside, immediately called her sons, Paco and Toni de la Rosa, who were each at their own homes, and they arrived with their grandchildren. The dining room of the farmhouse was transformed into a makeshift hospital room, with all the furniture tucked away in the corners, where doctors and nurses from the Emergency Medical Service (SEM) came and went to attend to the sixty-seven people who had been traveling on the train. Tragically, a train driver died; he was the only one whom the firefighters, police, and SEM didn't take to the cellar. It was a long night, during which they slept only a few hours because the next day, they were scheduled to receive media from all over the country.

The word fermentation It is the one that appears most frequently in current scientific studies. "In the last five years, neither the word 'champagne' nor the word 'cava' has appeared in scientific studies conducted worldwide." In contrast, in previous years it appeared frequently. champagneand almost never the word digging"Perhaps because scientists don't believe in the brand or because the term that was used is sparkling wine"," stated Dr. Mariona Gil y Cortiella in the talk Trends in scientific research on wines sparklingDr. Gil added that the two leading universities in the world in this research are the University of Reims and the University of Barcelona (UB). This took place at the Palau Moxó in Barcelona and is a prelude to Barcelona Wine Week, which will be held at Fira Barcelona from Monday, February 2nd to Wednesday, February 4th. Dr. Gil explained that one of the research areas is grape varieties, both traditional ones from each region and new ones, which "come from Brazil, one of the countries experiencing growth in production, characterized by its unique viticulture." She was referring to the fact that Brazilian vineyards typically have two harvests: one for wines and sparkling wines, and another to regulate the vine's yield. The varieties used for sparkling wines in Brazil are Syrah, Goethe, and Chenin Blanc.

Marta Casas (Vilanova i la Geltrú, 1976) is the winemaker at the Parés Baltà winery, which produces cava and wines. In 2003, she, along with her sister-in-law, Maria Elena Jiménez, and their partners, revolutionized the winery, which, she recalls, was producing "a basic cava." A true wine and sparkling wine lover, Marta entered the Blind Tasting competition, organized by Vila Viniteca, to blindly identify fourteen wines and sparkling wines. She says her fingers were trembling when she entered the tasting room. on the distributor's website to get one of the one hundred and thirty-five registrationswhich were finished in two minutes and fifty-four seconds.

While 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.

TV3's New Year's Eve broadcast from Maria Cristina Avenue in Barcelona made history. First, because it broke audience records in Catalonia, reaching a 40.5% share. shareThis means that over a million people were watching the Catalan public broadcaster to celebrate the New Year. Secondly, because presenters Miki Núñez and Laura Escanes toasted with a 33cl bottle of Estrella Damm and then raised it to drink it. This act broke with a long-standing tradition at the Catalan public broadcaster, which had traditionally toasted with sparkling wine and used crystal glasses. The sparkling wine industry has protested vehemently, sending letters of complaint to the Catalan Media Corporation, the Catalan Wine Institute, and the Catalan Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, and Food. For their part, the Catalan company Estrella Damm and the management of TV3 explain that the choice of beer was due to the brewery's 150th anniversary celebration. "Next year, there will be sparkling wine again; they will toast with bubbles as always," stated TV3's director, Sigfrid Gras.

Cava producer Pere Ventura, a member of the Cava Regulatory Board and the Cava Institute, argues that "Corpinnat should be included in the Cava Designation of Origin within the premium sparkling wine category," which would also include other producers who share the same philosophy: long-aged grapes, aged for a minimum of eighteen months. "I'm aware that the Cava DO stems from an initial mistake, which was absorbing territories that weren't part of the Penedès region, but since we can't go back now, we can categorize the brand," says Ventura at his winery in Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, which he built in 1991 with his wife, Mireia Juvé. "I support the Cava DO; I want to give it value," Ventura points out, adding that consumers would also find it easier if they could read on the labels that the cava they buy was made in the Penedès region, or in Requena (Valencian Community), or Almendralejo (Extremadura). And apart from knowing where that cava was made, I would have more information; I would know if I'm buying a premium category or a basic one.

The 19 producers of the Corpinnat collective brand are enjoying a boom. The brand has grown 58% in the last year, going from 12 to 19 member wineries. The last ones are AT Roca and Mas Bertran, which together alone total 400,000 bottles under the Corpinnat umbrella. At a meeting to share data on the harvest, they also provided information on the trickle of new additions. "More than ten wineries are being audited [to join Corpinnat]. We have very demanding regulations and we will be very strict with these additions," said Corpinnat's vice president, Roc Gramona, who acknowledged that there are more than they initially thought there would be. What's more, the winery that will be 20 years old will be announced at the beginning of the year, according to Pere Llopart, president of Corpinnat.

Changes continue at the sparkling wine production wineries in the Penedès. AT Roca, with 300,000 bottles per year, and Mas Bertran, with 150,000, notified Clàssic Penedès yesterday, Sunday, that they were withdrawing from the brand. This morning, they joined Corpinnat, which has nineteen wineries, and is already announcing that next February, for the Penedès fair, Barcelona Wine Week taking place at Fira de Barcelona, there will be more additions. If the Penedès has always been called a vibrant region, due to its bubbles, it is now more so than ever, as there is constant talk on the streets about the next changes it will undergo. Both Mas Bertran and AT Roca agree that Corpinnat is the collective brand that represents quality and commitment to the region, and above all, represents "prestige in the international market."

The wine world gathered on Friday night at the Casal Theater in Vilafranca del Penedès to attend the 13th edition of the Vinari Awards, the Catalan wine competition. This event awards silver, gold, and grand gold medals in various categories, as well as special prizes, such as Best Wine of 2025, which this year went to Gran Murallas from the Torres family, and Best Sparkling Wine, which went to Corpinnat Maria Bernet from the Júlia Ber winery. We review each of the awards.

Gelida winemaker Pep Bages explains two unexpected developments: he has launched his first sparkling wine and has joined Corpinnat after undergoing a total of three audits in which the collective brand verified that the method he uses to produce it complies with all regulatory standards. For Corpinnat, Demost, as the winemaker's winery is called, means incorporating the seventeenth winery, while also getting closer to the forecasts announced by the former board of directors (formed by producers Ton Mata and Xavi Nadal), and by the current one (producers Pere Llopart and Roc Gramona). They will end the year with almost twenty Corpinnat wineriesThus, the sparkling winemaking industry is expanding. They will reach twenty by late 2025 and early 2026, and they are working toward a day when they will no longer count due to the dozens of wineries that will have joined.

The Catalan wine sector has received with concern confirmation that its exports to the United States will receive tariffs of 15%, but celebrates that the trade agreement reached between Brussels and Washington serves to restore certainty to the market. "We would like it to be 0%, but we hope it's definitive," says Joan Huguet, president of the Penedès Designation of Origin (DO), regarding the new tax.

The Kripta winery, owned by the Torelló Sibill family of San Sadurní de Anoia, has just announced that it is leaving the Cava DO to join the Corpinnat brand, adding its sixteenth producer to its ranks. "We were deeply rooted in Cava from the beginning, but in recent years the designation of origin has been drifting in a way that no longer identifies us, and Corpinnat is the natural path we want to follow," explained siblings Gemma and Àlex Torelló Sibill on the same morning they notified the Cava Regulatory Council of their departure. "We've timed it to coincide with the end of the quarter, when we've already filed our quarterly declarations, so we'll do this upcoming harvest as Corpinnat," they say.

If water is the drink that quenches thirst, and science says so, sparkling wine makers add that bubbles also help with that. Milestones for sparkling wines.

The couple formed by Francesc Torelló and Josefa Llopart were visionary in 1951: they dedicated the grape harvest at the Can Martí de Baix estate to making champagne, as everyone then called the sparkling wine aged in cava. These were tough times; the post-war period and the Franco dictatorship were shaping the economy, and they had to work hard. "With their own grapes, my grandparents made champagne for more than thirty wineries in the surrounding area," recalls Toni de la Rosa, who, along with his brother, Paco de la Rosa, and their mother, Ernestina Torelló, runs the winery. I interviewed them one summer afternoon at Can Martí de Baix, when the winery's porches were being transformed into a restaurant, with tables set with white tablecloths. The winery hosts one of the dinners of the Corpinnat gastronomic festival, and kitchen Chef Arnau Bosch, from the Can Bosch restaurant in Cambrils (one Michelin star).

Since the death of his cousin Xavier in 2023, Jaume Gramona has been the president of Gramona, one of the most innovative wineries in the Penedès region.

The Vives family's Mas de la Basserola winery is leaving the Cava DO and joining the Corpinnat brand. The announcement of this fifteenth addition was made today, allowing the winery's owner, Guillem Vives (Pla de Manlleu, 1993), to become a member for the first time at the event held at the Recaredo winery in Sant Sadurní d'Anoia. Corpinnat hosted the delegation from the French Wine Academy, which arrived in Catalonia on Wednesday night and is touring the country.