It is one of the few wineries to have proven that Spain's sparkling wines can achieve excellence. The winery dates back to 1924, when Josep Mata Capellades started to build, pick in hand, the cellars where some of Spain's longest aged sparkling wines rest today.
At the beginning of 2019 Recaredo left DO Cava along with other sparkling wine producers from Penedès that are members of Corpinnat. The brand Corpinnat was presented in April 2018 as a new EU-registered, private certification that champions terroir in Penedès with stricter quality standards than those set by the DO Cava.
Recaredo is unique. Its sparkling wines are all Brut Nature (the driest style) and aged with natural cork stoppers. Each bottle is manually disgorged and given that bottle necks are not frozen, the disgorgement process is worth watching!
The third generation are the current managers. Their 50 hectares of vines planted on dry land are located in Alt Penedès and follow organic and biodynamic practices certified by Demeter. The wine made from the old Xarel.lo vines is aged in barrels, but Recaredo's style is decidedly no-nonsense. The wines are dry, austere, with notable acidity and often with complex herbal aromas.
The wines are based on Xarel.lo and, to a lesser extent, Macabeo. All bottlings, including its entry-level Terrers (around €19) with a mere 3% added to the blend carry some barrel-fermented Xarel.lo. Subtil (€24) comes from the winery's own vines and has 30% Chardonnay (which will be replaced by indigenous grapes from the 2014 vinatge) and 7% barrel-fermented Xarel.lo, whereas the Serral del Vell (around €28) includes over 30% Xarel.lo in the blend.
The same philosophy is applied to the top products: Reserva Particular (around €50 in Spain) was the star at a vertical tasting that took place during the winery's 50th anniversary in 2012. Of all the disgorged bottlings in the cellar that day, the 1984 vintage clearly proved the wine's aging potential.
The most ambitious Recaredo sparkling wine is Turó d'en Mota (around €100). It is made from a single vineyard Xarel.lo and aged for over 100 months. 1999 was the first vintage and production barely reaches 3,000 bottles.
Recaredo's organic commitment has resulted in a range of still white wines known as Can Credo. Made from Xarel.lo grapes, the amount of SO2 decreases to zero in the Cap Ficat bottling.
