For over an astonishing 500 years, the Raventos family has been involved with winemaking in the Catalonia region of Spain. Growing grapes on their historic 90 hectares (just over 222 acres) that has been in the family since 1497, the quality of their wines is unparalleled in the entire region, and certainly Spain. Located in the town of Sant Sadurní d’ Anoia in the Penedés region, the Raventos I Blanc winery was founded in 1986 by the father and son team of Josep and Manuel Raventos. Unfortunately, Josep passed away just 20 days after founding the winery, but Manuel decided to carry on the project with the same passion and ideals he and his father originally set out to achieve- to create sparkling wines with elegance and simplicity, and to put sparkling Spanish wine on the world map as a legitimate sparkling wine, not to imitation champagne.
Luckily for all of us they have indeed succeeded in their mission, as their sparkling wines are without a doubt some of the finest we have ever tasted, Spanish or otherwise. The current winemaker Pepe Raventos, is on a mission to bring back the prestige and quality to Spanish sparkling wines. After long and thoughtful consideration, Raventos decided to leave the Cava D.O. in 2012, and have been labeling their wines as “Conca del Riu Anoia,” which is the geographic ancestral home of sparkling wines in Spain. Raventos believes that there is the opportunity for honest wines resulting from a single estate, a specific climate, native grape varieties and a rigorous, well-defined and respectful form of viticulture.