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Agustí Torelló Mata


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    La Serra, s/n, Camí de la Serra Llarga, Lleida, Catalunya, Spain, 8770

Agustí Torelló Mata is famous worldwide for handcrafting superlative, regionally expressive cava—the DO Spanish sparkling wine produced using the méthode champenoise. Torelló did a winemaking stage in Champagne as a youth, then returned home to his village of Sant Sadurní d’Anoia (the “capital” of cava, in the heart of the Penedès region of Catalonia) to create his own cava in the 1950s. Bathed by the Mediterranean Sea and sheltered by the mountains of Montserrat, the region provides unique microclimates perfectly suited for growing the three indigienous grape varieties traditionally used to make cava: Macabeu, Parellada, and Xarel-lo. Respect for the land with a 100% organic cultivation and a careful manual harvest are the basis for preparing the wines from which the cava is born. The winery produces mostly Reserva and Gran Reserva cavas, as the long aging creates a complex bouquet not found in younger wines.

Agustí Torelló Mata Cava Vinegars are estate-made from his distinctive cavas. Agustí Torelló Mata's foray into vinegar-making came about as a way to save precious cava. In the disgorging process of cava-making, the lees—or grape sediment—gathered at the neck of the bottle are ejected before final corking. Inevitably, some of the cava itself is expelled. As a child of the Depression, this waste disturbed him, so he saved the spilled cava, filtered out the lees, and made vinegar. He recalls, “It backfired on me, because everyone liked it so much, I had to start opening up perfectly good bottles of cava to make the vinegar.” The sparkling wines are naturally acetified into vinegar and oak barrel-aged for more than 18 months.

Currently, the company is under the direction of his two children: Àlex, who is the winemaker and viticulture director, and Gemma, who is the lawyer and administrator of the company.