From the atlas
Codorníu
At A Glance
Codorníu is a Spanish cava producer whose cellars are in Sant Sadurní d'Anoia. Its winegrowing history is dated to 1551, while the first bottle of cava associated with the house was made by Josep Raventós Fatjó in 1872 from Macabeo, Xarello and Parellada, three Penedès grape varieties.
The modern range links traditional-method sparkling wine with own-vineyard sourcing and organic viticulture. Codorníu's Cuvée Original Brut Ecológico keeps the original grape proportions and uses organically farmed grapes, with a fruity, floral profile and persistent creaminess.
The Producer
Codorníu's defining act happened in 1872, when Josep Raventós Fatjó applied the traditional method to Penedès grapes and made the first bottle of cava associated with the house. The method uses two fermentations, giving the wine its sparkling form and a creamy texture that sits beside the fruit of Macabeo, Xarello and Parellada.
The house now presents more than 450 years of wine and cava production, with a history reaching back to 1551 and a family heritage described across 18 generations. Those dates are part of the wine's shape, because Codorníu still places the original varieties and traditional method at the centre of its core Brut range.
Place
Codorníu makes its cavas in Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, the town named in the house history as the home of its cellars. The grapes are selected from Codorníu's own vineyards under sustainable-viticulture guidelines, linking the bottle to the producer's farming rather than to an anonymous fruit supply.
The historic address also carries a visible cellar consequence. Architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch designed and constructed the winery, and the cellars were later declared a national historic monument for their cultural interest. The building belongs to the production story: traditional-method cava is made and aged in a place built specifically around wine.
Soil And Site
The supplied vineyard record does not establish soil types, elevations, vine ages or parcel-level conditions, so Codorníu's site story belongs to what can be named clearly. The grapes come from own vineyards, sustainable viticulture guides the work, and the company reported that all its vineyards had moved to organic viticulture, with all grapes certified organic.
Some Codorníu vineyards have received the Paraje Calificado distinction, a named site classification linked to the quality of the land and its grapes. It belongs to selected vineyard sites, not to every bottle in the range.
Story
Codorníu's story moves from a winegrowing family recorded in 1551 to a decisive bottle in 1872, then into a present-day vineyard program that places organic farming at the centre of production. Josep Raventós Fatjó changed the local repertoire by applying the traditional method to Macabeo, Xarello and Parellada. The grape combination became part of the house's lasting language.
In 2022, Codorníu achieved its first fully certified-organic harvest. A 2024 company announcement reported that all Codorníu vineyards had been converted to organic viticulture and that the grapes were certified organic. The change reaches the label through Cuvée Original Brut Ecológico, which retains the original proportions while using organically farmed raw material.
Vineyards And Cellar
Codorníu selects cava grapes from its own vineyards and farms under sustainable-viticulture guidelines. The later organic conversion changes the agricultural basis of the fruit, while the traditional method governs what happens after harvest. Two fermentations turn the base wine into sparkling cava and support a creamy texture.
The cellar itself carries the producer's history. Puig i Cadafalch's winery was built between 1898 and 1914 and later received national historic-monument status for its cultural interest. Wine, architecture and method meet in the same place, with the cellar providing the setting for the bottle's second fermentation and subsequent development.
Wines
Codorníu's range begins with traditional-method cava made around Penedès varieties. Cuvée Original Brut Ecológico occupies the core position: a Brut sparkling wine using the original proportions of Macabeo, Xarello and Parellada, with organically farmed grapes. Its profile is fruity and floral, while the two-fermentation method brings persistent creaminess and a rounded sparkling texture.
Anna de Codorníu Brut provides a separate standard Brut expression with its own composition and sensory profile. It belongs beside the Cuvée Original in the range, but it is not the same wine as the organic bottling. The distinction matters on the shelf: one bottle carries the original blend and organic farming story, while the other represents Anna's separate house expression.
Paraje Calificado adds a site-based level to the picture. Some Codorníu vineyards hold that distinction, connecting selected land with a more specific vineyard designation. The supplied material does not attach that status to a complete named cuvée list, so it belongs as a vineyard detail rather than a claim about every bottle.
In The Glass
Fruit and floral aromas rise first from the Codorníu Cuvée Original Brut Ecológico, reflecting the Penedès grape blend rather than an oak-led style. The bubbles carry those notes across the palate, while the traditional method's two fermentations bring a creamy sensation through the middle of the wine.
The finish keeps that creaminess in place instead of dropping straight back to fruit. The Brut format gives the wine a clean sparkling frame, and the original Macabeo, Xarello and Parellada combination keeps the profile connected to Codorníu's historical style. Anna de Codorníu Brut belongs to the same broad sparkling family, but its composition and tasting profile remain specific to that bottling.
A Bottle To Understand It
Codorníu Cuvée Original Brut Ecológico is the first bottle to open. It is a Brut cava made from the original Macabeo, Xarello and Parellada proportions, with organically farmed grapes. In the glass, fruity and floral aromas lead into a sparkling palate with persistent creaminess, while the two-fermentation method supplies the texture that separates traditional-method cava from a simply carbonated wine.
The bottle holds the producer's history and current vineyard direction together without requiring a leap between labels. Its grape blend reaches back to the 1872 bottle, and its organic fruit reflects the certified-organic harvest achieved in 2022. Start here for a wine with visible fruit, floral lift, creamy texture and a direct link to Codorníu's working history.
Anecdote
In 1872, Josep Raventós Fatjó took three Penedès varieties, Macabeo, Xarello and Parellada, and applied the traditional method used for bottle-fermented sparkling wine. The work produced what Codorníu dates as the first bottle of cava. It was a practical act of winemaking: choose the local grapes, carry out the method with two fermentations, and put the finished sparkling wine into bottle. The three varieties remained tied to the house after that first experiment, while Codorníu continued making cava in its cellars at Sant Sadurní d'Anoia. The original combination still appears in Cuvée Original Brut Ecológico, where the grapes are farmed organically and the wine retains a fruity, floral profile with persistent creaminess.
Final Word
Codorníu connects a 1551 winegrowing history to the 1872 creation of cava, then carries that blend and method into an organic present. Its most useful bottle is Cuvée Original Brut Ecológico: fruity, floral and creamy, with Macabeo, Xarello and Parellada at its centre.
Sources
- https://www.codorniu.com/en
- https://www.codorniu.com/en/the-house-of-cava
- https://raventoscodorniu.com/en/nuestra-historia/
- https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/raventos-codorniu-leads-the-charge-as-worlds-largest-producer-of-organic-cava-302251065.html
- https://www.codorniu.com/en/cavas/originals-and-classics/codorniu-cuvee-original-brut-ecologico
- https://www.codorniu.com/en/cavas/anna-de-codorniu/anna-de-codorniu-brut
- https://www.systembolaget.se/produkt/vin/codorniu-7513701/