Wine is one of the many business concerns of the Sumarroca family, who owns Teyco, a construction company, and is a shareholder in Comsa Coporation, a big player in the engineering and infrastructure sector. Wine, however, is an integral part of the business —the Sumarrocas have been growing vines for several generations in the Pallars Jussà region in Lleida (northwest Catalonia). Other companies in the wine and food division include Aranca, a canning company in Navarra, La Boella oil and Selfoods, a company which distributed the family’s brands as well as other wines and premium foods.
After they moved to Penedès in the 1980s, the Sumarrocas started buying farmland: Molí Coloma in Subirats (36ha), Heretat Sabartés in Banyeres del Penedès (25ha) and later in 1999 a vast estate formerly owned by the Marquis of Monistrol. Located between the villages of Sant Sadurní and Monistrol d’Anoia, it comprises 400 hectares, 220 of which are under vine. The property, now renamed Sumarroca, virtually meets the company’s grape requirements to make Cava and still wines in the DO Penedès.
The estate benefits from the sea breeze but it becomes drier after traversing the Garraf mountains. This is the reason why Parellada vines are planted in an area where Xarel.lo dominates (also at the estate); the wind also helps to prevent botrytis in case of rainfall during the harvest. The estate benefits from poor limestone soils and all its vineyards are now organic.
Sumarroca makes over two million bottles. Cava accounts for one million, 50% of which is sold outside of the country. Sumarroca Brut Reserva (€12) is the most popular brand and the standard Cava offered by The Wine Society, the world’s oldest wine club based in UK.
Among Sumarroca’s vast range of fizz, the Brut Nature Gran Reserva (€16 in Spain, 100,000 bottles) offers outstanding value. A blend of the indigenous trio of grapes Macabeo-Xarel.lo-Parellada plus a little bit of Chardonnay, the style is rather classical compared to the creamier Gran Cuvée Brut Nature Gran Reserva with a bigger amount of Chardonnay.
Sumarroca’s premium Cavas are named after the matriarch, Núria Claverol, with striking, amphorae-inspired bottles signed by her three sons. They include a juicy, vibrant rosé (€30) made from Pinot Noir, the consistent Allier Brut (€34) with 30% of base wine fermented in barrel and two more top cavas. The first one is Blanc de Negres (€32), which blends a distinctive, sharp Pinot Noir grown on poor chalky soils with some Chardonnay which adds creaminess to the palate. The second wine expected to join the new high-end Cava category is Homenatge (€52), an excellent single-vineyard Xarel.lo. Grapes are sourced from a bucolic site next to the estate’s Romanesque chapel of Santa Creu de Creixà, formerly owned by the Marquis of Monistrol. Planted in the 1960s, it has distinctive limestone soils formed by aerial sedimentation which differ significantly from the rest of surrounding parcels.
The range of still wines relies heavily on young and single-varietal whites and reds and some blended reds. Il.logic (€9), a relatively new addition, is a single-varietal Xarel.lo aged for three months under lees in stainless steel tanks.
Wine tours are a regular feature at Sumarroca and they include tastings, wine courses, private events, a tour of the vineyards on foot, bicycle or in an open-top 4x4, and picking grapes during the day or the night at harvest time. The stately home formerly owned by the Marchioness of Friny in Heretat Sabartés has been restored and now hosts weddings and celebrations. The Sumarroca group also makes wines in Montsant and Empordà.
