The Rough Guide to Barcelona 8 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

167 / 344

161
same wasting disease – something remembered still in the annual September
festival by the parade of a representation of the feared philoxera parasite. The
production of cava, for which the town is now famous, began only in the 1870s
– an industry that went hand in hand with the Catalan cork business, established
in the forests of the hinterland.Today, a hundred million bottles a year of cava –
the Catalan méthode champenoise – are turned out by dozens of companies, many
of which are only too happy to escort you around their premises, show you the
fermentation process, and let you taste a glass or two.
The town itself is of little interest, but it hardly matters, since most people
never get any further than the most prominent and most famous company,
Freixenet (T938 917 000, W ) – producer of those distinctive
black bottles – whose building is right outside the train station.They offer daily
90-minute tours and tastings (Mon–Thurs 10am–1pm & 3–4.30pm, Fri–Sun
10am–1pm; €5) for which it’s best to call and reserve a place. Many other
companies have similar arrangements, including the out-of-town Codorníu
(Mon–Fri 9am–5pm, Sat, Sun & hols 9am–1pm; T938 913 342, Wwww
) – the region’s earliest cava producer – which has a fine building
by modernista architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch as an added attraction.There are
four dozen other caves or cellars in and around town, all shown on a map
available at the Sant Sadurní tourist office , at c/Hospital 26 (Tues–Fri 10am–
2pm & 4.30–6.30pm, Sat, Sun & hols 10am–2pm; T 938 913 188, Wwww
.santsadurni.cat), and also on their website.The office is in the centre of town,
a fifteen-minute walk from the train station, and you can rent bikes here too if
you fancied cycling to some of the out-of-town producers.
Vilafranca del Penedès
As a town, VILAFRANCA DEL PENEDÈS is rather more interesting than
Sant Sadurní. Founded in the eleventh century in an attempt to attract settlers
to land retaken from the expelled Moors, it became a prosperous market
centre. This character is still in evidence today, with a compact old town at
whose heart lie narrow streets and arcaded squares adorned with restored
medieval mansions.
From the train station, walk up to the main Rambla de Nostra Senyora and cut
to the right up c/de Sant Joan to the enclosed Plaça de Sant Joan,which has a small
daily produce market. A rather larger affair takes place every Saturday, when the
stalls also stock clothes, household goods, handicrafts and agricultural gear.There’s
a tourist office at the back of the square, at c/Cort 14 (Mon 4–7pm,Tues–Fri
Cava
Cava is a naturally sparkling wine made using the méthode champenoise, the tradi-
tional method for making Champagne. The basic grape varieties of L’Alt Penedès are
macabeu, and parellada, which are fermented to produce a wine base and
then mixed with sugar and yeast before being bottled: a process known as tiratge.
The bottles are then sealed hermetically – the tapat – and laid flat in cellars – the
criança – for up to nine months, to ferment for a second time. The wine is later
decanted to get rid of the sediment before being corked.
The cava is then classified according to the amount of sugar used in the fermen-
tation: either Brut (less than 20g a litre) or Sec (20–30g); Semisec (30–50g) or Dolç
(more than 50g). This is the first thing to take note of before buying or drinking: Brut
and Sec are to most people’s tastes and are excellent with almost any food, or as an
aperitif; Semisec and Dolç are better used as dessert wines.
OUT OF THE CITY
|
The wine region: L’Alt Penedès