Catalunya
Catalonia — Spain's most dynamic province and, through the Penedès, the home of cava, the traditional-method sparkling wine produced here since the 1870s.
About the region
Catalonia is arguably the most dynamic province in Spain and the epicentre of Spanish art, literature, philosophy, gastronomy, finance and culture — a province fervent about politics and religion where everyone speaks Catalan first and Spanish second, and which produced Miró, Dalí, Picasso, the architect Gaudí and the cellist Pablo Casals. That artistry and exuberance is evident in its wines. The province's principal wine region, the Penedès, is anchored by Barcelona, whose gastronomy and nightlife spill over and give it an edge many sleepy rural wine regions lack. Driving southwest out of the city, industrial sprawl gives way to pine- and orchard-covered hills and then a patchwork quilt of vineyards; from warm coastal land the vineyards climb to higher, cooler elevations inland. Though modest in surface area the Penedès spans two mountain chains and a valley, and so has a wide variety of climatic conditions and soil types. It is one of several Denominaciones de Origen within Catalonia but continues to be, along with Priorat, one of the most important. The Penedès is most widely known for cava — Spanish sparkling wine made by the traditional (Champagne) method, produced here since the 1870s — and in addition makes a wide variety of still wines, many of them simple and in a modern style. The terms reserva and gran reserva may also be used on cava.
