Pepe Raventós is the closest thing Catalonia has to vinous royalty – his lineage stretches back 21 generations and his ancestor practically invented Cava in 1872. Since his grandfather Josep Maria sold his shares in the family's historic winery, Codorníu, Pepe and his father Manuel have worked tirelessly to place their new domaine, Raventós i Blanc, at the forefront of the local biodynamic wine movement.
Back in 1999, when Raventós i Blanc had to fight to keep afloat, Pepe started producing a still wine called 'Perfum' to increase turnover. He dreamed of one day buying vineyards elsewhere in the region to keep the two styles apart. That dream is realised in Can Sumoi. The estate comprises 400ha, mostly woodland but with 20ha of old vineyards that Pepe and his business partner Francesc Escala have worked since 2016. At 600m elevation, the altitude provides both good air flow, thus ensuring healthy grapes, and a cooler microclimate, enabling them to harvest with higher acidity.
Farming is certified biodynamic but Pepe is keen to go further and is developing a philosophy called 'biosynergy', encompassing every element of the land – its animals, its history and so on – into one sustainable whole. His clean and precise winemaking includes manual harvests, native yeasts and spontaneous fermentation, no additions of sulphur or additives, temperature control and small-batch bottling.
Can Sumoi's collection includes a lively rosé (more Provençal in style than many Spanish rosés), a series of Pét-Nats, and a pure Xarel·lo. "Xarel·lo is the king," says Pepe. Part of what makes Can Sumoi such an exciting prospect is not only the renaissance of a long-forgotten heritage, but the ambition of elevating a grape not conventionally regarded capable of greatness – an idea Pepe picked up working for the late Loire Valley iconoclast Didier Dagueneau in 2004. "What inspired me was how he expressed soil through Sauvignon Blanc," Pepe says. "I thought I must be able to do this with Xarel·lo. The thing I really took away was belief – he was a believer in what he was doing."
