International Fine Wines
International Fine Wines
International Fine Wines
International Fine Wines

Recaredo

Scintillating, Grower Champagne-Quality Sparkling from Alt Penedès

Recaredo rightly holds a formidable reputation as Spain’s greatest producer of sparkling wines. The domaine’s origins date back to 1924 when Josep Mata Capellades, a professional disgorger, decided to build a cellar under his house and cultivate his own vineyard in Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, a village in the heart of Catalonia’s Alt Penedés region. He called his new winery Recaredo after his father, Recaredo Mata Figueres.

From humble beginnings, Mata grew his holdings while forging his distinctive style, pioneering the production of brut nature sparkling wines, using oak barrels and crafting long-aged sparkling wines with the Xarel·lo grape variety. Mata’s sons continued in their father’s footsteps, and today, it is his grandson, Ton Mata, who heads up the winery.

Under Ton’s direction, Recaredo has become a worldwide reference point for sparkling wine. Recaredo is a pioneer on many levels; not only was it the first producer in the Penedès region to be certified biodynamic (in 2010), but it uses exclusively estate-grown fruit, and all the grapes are picked by hand and vinified in its own cellars in Sant Sadurní d’Anoia.

Mata’s philosophy has long been about crafting wines of place rather than conforming to a particular style. For this reason, Recaredo left the sprawling Cava D.O. in 2018 to join Corpinnat, an organisation then comprising nine leading wineries in Alt Penedés. Inspired by Champagne’s Récoltant-Manipulant model, Corpinnat was established to distinguish the great sparkling wines made in the heart of Penedès, a region whose traditional-method sparkling wine history dates back to the end of the 19th century.

Corpinnat’s manifesto includes arguably the strictest guidelines overseeing any sparkling wine production in the world. This includes working with 100% organic grapes, harvesting by hand, minimum ageing requirements and vinification at the estate. Today, only 12 producers have met such rigorous obligations. Corpinnat is not an easy club to get into.

Recaredo’s vineyards are amongst the most immaculate and precisely tended we have visited. All the plots, of which there are many, lie within 25km of the cellars in Sant Sadurní d’Anoia in the Corpinnat territory—an area of mainly calcareous soils and hilly Mediterranean landscapes dominated by the Montserrat Mountains. The vineyards are dry-farmed and planted only with the region’s local varieties, notably Xarel·lo, which accounts for 60% of Recaredo’s production. Draught horses plough the top vineyards, and only organic fertilisers are applied when necessary.

Recaredo only makes vintage-dated wines. Yields are some of the lowest you will find in the world of sparkling wine: 40 hl/ha would not be a wild estimate over the past decade. Fermentation is triggered by vineyard yeasts originally isolated in 1999, and Mata still uses a large proportion of large oak barrels for fermentation—more so in the single-vineyard and long-aged labels. Unusually for the region, secondary fermentations occur without adding cane sugar. Instead, the secondary fermentation uses grape juice from the following vintage. Aging takes place under natural cork only, a homage to the family’s tradition and the terroir-driven house style.

All the wines spend at least 30 months on lees and up to 15 years or more in their cellars for the top cuvée. Then, all the riddling is done in-house, and the disgorgements―which take place without freezing―are done manually by a group of artisans who expel the lees. All this is to say, Recaredo’s practice in vineyard and cellar would not look out of place next to a very top grower Champagne outfit. As The Wine Advocate’s Luis Gutiérrez has written: “I’m not sure if there is any other sparkling wine producer in the world who works with such strict standards.”

Under Recaredo’s management, Xarel·lo has emerged as a faithful communicator of terroir and a variety that ages and improves in bottle like few others. This Catalan variety started as a red grape before mutating into a white variety. Perhaps for this reason, Xarel·lo is high in antioxidant and phenolic compounds—more than some red varieties—promoting its astonishing ageing potential while lending an attractive salty-bitter sensation to the wine’s finish.

Like all the world’s greatest fizz, these are, first and foremost, fine wines. “These are more than just sparkling wines—they are long-aged white wines,” says Ton Mata. “The bubbles must allow you to see the wine; they must not hide the wine.” When tasting in the context of a meal, these wines take on another level of complexity, evolving with air and taking you on a journey. It’s not very often you come by a sparkling wine producer where the quality and character of the wines match the greatest growers in Champagne. Yet that is precisely what you get with Recaredo.

Currently Available

Recaredo Corpinnat Reserva Particular Brut Nature 2013 (Disg. Sept. 2022)
$292.00
Added

Recaredo Corpinnat Reserva Particular Brut Nature 2013 (Disg. Sept. 2022)

Biodynamic. 56% Macabeu, 44% Xarel·lo. Recaredo’s Reserva Particular was created in 1962 by Josep Mata Capellades, who wanted to unearth the delicacy and subtle complexity of long-aged sparkling wines in the Penedès setting. The Xarel·lo and Macabeu for this bottling are drawn from some of Recaredo’s oldest vines, planted between 1950 and 1955 in sloping clay soils that give this cuvée its breadth and more traditional old-school personality. Aged for 100 months before release, it’s a beautifully weighted and engagingly complex wine with more classical, old-school Penedès notes of menthol, toasted nuts and spice alongside a refined., delicate mousse flecked with Mediterranean herbs, anise and more spice. Serve this at the table, much as you would a fine, mature white wine (which it is!)

“There is great freshness and minerality in the 2013 Reserva Particular, reflecting a very cold and rainy vintage when the wine was produced with a blend of 56% Macabeo and 44% Xarel.lo and disgorged after 99 months with lees in bottle. There are notes of lemongrass, caramel, toast, camphor and bay leaf with the classical yeasty notes of brioche and bread dough. It's balsamic and medicinal and has a very lively palate with almost imperceptible bubbles, which are subtle and integrated and give the wine texture and freshness but it's secondary.”
95 points, Luis Gutiérrez, The Wine Advocate
“Wonderful, evocative scents of preserved lemon, wild herbs, maritime freshness, dried stone fruits, almost a touch of custard but a sense of savouriness a curious and delightful override. The palate is quite generous and rich, creamy, lightly honeyed and toasty with hazy apple juice, lemon curd with strong briny elements. There’s a course of low key but uplifting bubbles. Finishes stony, fresh-dry and pleasingly bitter-herbal, lingering incredibly and with a light effervescence going on and on. Lots on here; fabulous journey.”
94 points, Mike Bennie, The Wine Front
“It has a pearly glow, this wine. Like a smudged lens. Maybe this bottle, maybe age? Anyway, it’s quite shy on the nose at first, so let’s start with flavours—bitter preserved lemons, rock salt, brine and a wild honey character. Yoghurty palate. Very unique combination. Salty shortbread and a nutty character. Chewy acidity. Funky. Briny. Bitter. Mint, aniseed, cumin. Peculiar, different to others, perhaps due to age and development. I like it’s slight quirkiness. Could go 94 but…”
93 points, Kasia Sobiesiak, The Wine Front
Recaredo Corpinnat Reserva Particular Brut Nature 2013 (Disg. Sept. 2022)
$292.00
Added
Recaredo Corpinnat Serral del Vell Brut Nature 2017 (Disg. June 2023)
$147.00
Added

Recaredo Corpinnat Serral del Vell Brut Nature 2017 (Disg. June 2023)

Biodynamic. 87% Xarel·lo, 13% Macabeu. This striking single-vineyard wine takes its name from the sloping Serral del Vell estate overlooked by the Montserrat mountains. The soil of the Serral del Vell plateau contains calcareous lumps and quite a bit of limestone from the Serra del Mar and the Serra Catalana, which were deposited in the area due to erosion. From these lean, rocky soils and these mature vines, Recaredo is searching for the truest expression of the site’s most mineral soils (containing 33% active limestone).Only the Xarel·lo base wines are fermented in large-format oak. Recaredo prefers to use tanks for their Macabeu. Yields from Recaredo vineyards dipped to 26.5 hl/ha in 2017, and you can feel the fleshy intensity and low-yield energy coursing through the palate. With air, the 2017 develops some lovey nutty complexity, yet the style rests more on purity and salty-mineral impact than simple autolytic notes and dosage despite the lengthy 64 months on lees.

“Serral del Vell is a star, channelling all the salty-mineral focus that Xarel-lo can draw from these soils. Bright mandarin and lime rind aromatics, softened a touch by Macabeo's peachiness and lifted by lavender florals and subtle fresh nut lees character. Superb.”
95 points, Tom Hewson, Catalunya Sparkling Wine Report (Tim Atkin MW)
“All their wines are Brut Nature, and so is the 2017 Serral del Vell, a blend of 87% Xarel.lo and 13% Macabeo. They look for the expression of the soil here, narrower and more direct, with more tension and with tons of elegance from the aging with the lees, very integrated and balanced, keeping the acidity. It developed an acute note of licorice with time in the glass. It was disgorged after 56 months sur lie, because demand outgrows supply. They have 47,000 bottles of this vintage, which should last them for two years, so the 2018 will have a longer aging in bottle when it's released.”
95 points, Luis Gutiérrez, The Wine Advocate
“A huge volume of perfume, dried flowers, apple, fennel, buttered cinnamon buns, ginger and sea spray. The palate is acute, tightly wound, super minerally with veins of racy brine, crushed rock and slate lancing lime and crunchy green apple characters – a dominant and proud feature, enlivening the palate wildly. The fizz is frisky but a back seat. Gentle palate staining of apple, ginger, cinnamon and brine. Brilliant, vivid, alive.”
95 points, Mike Bennie, The Wine Front
“Such detailed perfume! Almond blossom, waxy quality, candle wax, frangipani aroma, white stone fruit, nectarine stone bitterness, white flowers. Very pretty. Acidity and texture here are like talcum powder, chalky but very fine and sort of squeaky vibrating at a high pitch. Amazing finesse and elegance.”
95 points, Kasia Sobiesiak, The Wine Front
Recaredo Corpinnat Serral del Vell Brut Nature 2017 (Disg. June 2023)
$147.00
Added
Recaredo Corpinnat Subtil Brut Nature 2018 (Disg. Nov. 2022)
$147.00
Added

Recaredo Corpinnat Subtil Brut Nature 2018 (Disg. Nov. 2022)

Biodynamic. 100% Xarel·lo, Subtil is sourced from the Serral del Roure estate, which ranges in altitude from 210 to 285 metres. The soils here are loamy and characterised by a relatively even balance of sand, silt and clay. There is little more clay in the soil than in Serral del Vell, resulting in a tendency to produce a rounder, more mouthfilling wine. A portion of the base wine is fermented in Stockinger barrel, which lends more savoury complexity to this bottling. It ages for 36 months in the bottle and is disgorged by hand. The 2018 is a brilliant, suave expression of Catalonia’s signature grape variety, with a core of pulpy, driving stone fruit and a long, chalky, bone-dry finish.

“It has 11.5% alcohol with very good freshness, reflecting a cooler year, and there is some spiciness and a yeasty touch with a medicinal and balsamic twist and a very tasty finish, almost salty, long, lively and with a bitter twist. This was recently disgorged (all bottles have the disgorgement date on the back label) after two years and eight months sur lie.”
94 points, Luis Gutiérrez, The Wine Advocate
“Savoury and sweet patisserie scents, preserved lime, stony mineral elements, faint toast and dried apple with whiffs of vanilla cream, sea spray and aniseed. Texture is amazing here, strong currency of the fine white wine underlying, savoury and minerally, with a lighter, lower atmosphere of bubbles that seems to only lend complexity rather than star. A touch of sugared bun finishes with briny minerality. Exceptional length and persistence, with a sense of delicacy, purity and verve. Drinks beautifully.”
95 points, Mike Bennie, The Wine Front
“Love the individual expression of this one grape. It represents quite understated power here, apples and cold smoke, papaya, herbs—all on an iron bed, with that type of steely vibration that last for a while. Savoury and quite unique in its suit. Lovely.”
94 points, Kasia Sobiesiak, The Wine Front
Recaredo Corpinnat Subtil Brut Nature 2018 (Disg. Nov. 2022)
$147.00
Added
Recaredo Corpinnat Intens Rosat Brut Nature 2019 (Disg. Nov. 2022)
$116.00
Added

Recaredo Corpinnat Intens Rosat Brut Nature 2019 (Disg. Nov. 2022)

Biodynamic. Recaredo’s fascinating Rosat is made exclusively from Monastrell grown in the Serral de Vell (250 metres) and Marçaneta (200 metres) vineyards. Ton Mata prefers to stay away from the pale style of rosé as he doesn’t believe this on-trend style fits the character of the Alt Penedès. So, against the current fashion, it has an intense ruby colour drawn from six hours of skin contact. Despite the intensity of the colour, it has the subtlety and elegance of a fine Blanc de Blancs, coupled with vinous texture and piercing red-fruit flavours. Aged in bottle for 32 months, it finishes with biscuity complexity and pleasant twist of Mourvèdre savouriness that works beautifully at the table.

“Very aromatic, rose hip tea, pot pourri, sourdough bread, some dried cranberry and faint game meat elements with wild herbal inflections and some violet lift. Creamy texture with a hazy, almost chalky edge, fine tannins included with a freshness yet strong savoury undertow, the finish decidedly firm yet mouth-watering and fresh. Bright, light bubbles. Red fruits, florals, nuttiness. Beautiful. Such a sense of complexity and uniqueness. A fine wine first, it feels.”
94 points, Mike Bennie, The Wine Front
“I’m so drawn to this. Pink Lady apple, strawberry, raspberry, rose perfume, hibiscus. You get it, all the delicious pink and red colours. Strawberries and cream fill the palate but there’s a pinch to bubbles giving it a savoury, racy edge and then it’s more creamy in the aftertaste. There’s more. Cranberries and blood orange finish with a bitter tang and oyster shell ‘mineral’ feel in the finale. Very friendly wine. On its own or with food.”
94 points, Kasia Sobiesiak, The Wine Front
Recaredo Corpinnat Intens Rosat Brut Nature 2019 (Disg. Nov. 2022)
$116.00
Added
Recaredo Corpinnat Terrers Brut Nature 2019 (Disg. June 2023)
$99.00
Added

Recaredo Corpinnat Terrers Brut Nature 2019 (Disg. June 2023)

Biodynamic. 57% Xarel·lo, 25% Macabeu, 17% Parellada, 1% Monastrell. Aged for 39 months on lees, Terrers is made from fruit grown in Recaredo’s own vineyards, all rooted in the calcareous soils of the Alt Penedès region. Each year, the blend can include fruit from as many as 65 small parcels drawn from Recaredo’s vines in Serral del Roure, Serral del Vell, Pedra Blanca, Marçaneta and the elevated Montpedrós vineyard at 455 metres. The base wines for Terrers are raised in tank, giving a super bright and fluid wine with textured stone fruit and bursts of citrus alongside an elegant palate marked by notes of herb and spice and creamy, textured lees-aging notes.

“Terrers is a vivid, expressive and instantly-gratifying blend with its sweet herb, light orange peel and crusty sourdough bread, bright-toned but far from simple as it opens with fleshier yellow apple and blossom notes. There's a welcome, measured dose of Catalan punchiness in the blend, but the overall impression is one of completeness and finesse.”
92 points, Tom Hewson, Catalunya Sparkling Wine Report (Tim Atkin MW)
“Complex, extremely subtle and well balanced. Doesn’t taste like champagne, but why should it? Very well made. Super-refreshing with a little grip on the end.”
Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com
“Mouth-filling yet so clean and bright, layers of sea spray, dried apple, strong general minerality, touches of cinnamon toast with lime and pink grapefruit brightening. Quite delicate and understated but comes with an authority of texture and drive. Subtle but frisky bubbles. Very pure feeling too. And delicious. Wildly drinkable; fine expression.”
93 points, Mike Bennie, The Wine Front
“It’s quiet to start. Flint and roasted cashews, crushed white flowers, a hint of pink fruit. Then comes the creaminess and licks of smoke—grilled peach with pastry weight but it’s all very fine mousse lifting the whole flavour profile. It’s pleasantly bitter with a touch of warmth, a cinnamon dust tingle to the very close of things. Yummy.”
93 points, Kasia Sobiesiak, The Wine Front
Recaredo Corpinnat Terrers Brut Nature 2019 (Disg. June 2023)
$99.00
Added

AT-A-GLANCE

• Recaredo is a generational sparkling wine producer, established in 1924 in Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, Penedès, by Josep Mata Capellades.

• The estate is run by third-generation Ton Mata, who has carried on the work of his father and uncle, making terroir-specific sparkling wines.

• The estate covers 50 hectares of low-yielding, mature (up to 75 years), certified organic and biodynamic vines around Sant Sadurní d’Anoia.

• Soils are calcareous, and the vines are dry-grown. 60% of the plantings are Xarel·lo, with the balance Macabeu, Parellada, Garnatxa and Monastrell.

• Recaredo is one of only 12 members of Corpinnat, an organisation operating outside Cava DO, enforcing strict viticulture and production rules.

• These traditional-method wines from estate-grown, indigenous varieties are riddled and disgorged by hand after lengthy spells on lees (30 months minimum).

• All the wines are vintage-dated, and the range includes a rosé alongside several blended and single-plot wines.



IN THE PRESS

“They are the best producer of sparkling wine from Spain.” Luis Gutiérrez, The Wine Advocate

“‘First Growths’ of Cava. It was like being elevated to a higher level of complexity, a thrilling example of tense, mineral-rich Cava that has a distinct Champagne-like personality.” Neal Martin, The Wine Advocate

“I’m not sure if there is any other sparkling wine producer in the world who works with such strict standards… Congratulations to the Mata family and to winemaker Ton Mata for such achievement. There is a sense of energy and harmony in their wines that is impressive; they are all highly recommended.” Luis Gutiérrez, The Wine Advocate

Country

Spain

Primary Region

Penedès, Catalunya

People

Winemaker: Ton Mata

Availability

National

More Content

Read more about Corpinnat

Most Recent Offer

  • Recaredo
    Recaredo
    It’s not often you come by a sparkling wine producer where the quality and unique chara...
    It’s not often you come by a sparkling wine producer where the quality and unique character of the wines, not to mention the quality of the farming...

    Read more

While you're here

Welcome