Spain · Penedès

Mas de Serral de Pepe Raventós

Pepe Raventós’s Anoia Valley project centres on Mas del Serral, a long-aged sparkling wine from co-planted Xarel·lo and Bastard Negre in the north-facing Clos del Serral.

The producer

Mas de Serral de Pepe Raventós works from the Anoia Valley northwest of Barcelona, near Montserrat. Its defining sparkling wine comes from Clos del Serral, a 1.9-hectare, north-facing parcel between forest and lake, where Xarel·lo and Bastard Negre have grown together since 1954. Clay over limestone and long lees ageing shape a dry wine with citrus, herbs, fine mousse, toast and a saline mineral finish.

The range follows named plots into still wines as well: Malvasia de Sitges Vinya de la Plana is fermented in cement and aged on lees, while Xarel·lo Vinya del Noguer and Bastard Negre de les Terrasses del Serral take separate routes through the cellar. Concrete, ceramics and open barrels keep grape, fruit, acidity and texture at the centre of each bottle.

Known for

Long-aged, single-vineyard sparkling wine from co-planted Xarel·lo and Bastard Negre.

Notable facts

The story

Leaving Cava

In 2012, the Raventós family left the Cava appellation, despite its historic connection to the family’s sparkling-wine past. Pepe Raventós was pursuing wines centred on the Anoia Valley, its limestone ground, farming and named parcels. Mas del Serral continued as a Spanish sparkling wine from Clos del Serral, but outside the Cava appellation. In the vineyard, the 1954 co-planting of Xarel·lo and Bastard Negre remained intact. The fruit was hand-picked, whole-cluster pressed, fermented in concrete eggs and kept on lees for years before disgorgement.

Leaving Cava

In 2012, the Raventós family left the Cava appellation, despite its historic connection to the family’s sparkling-wine past. Pepe Raventós was pursuing wines centred on the Anoia Valley, its limestone ground, farming and named parcels. Mas del Serral continued as a Spanish sparkling wine from Clos del Serral, but outside the Cava appellation. In the vineyard, the 1954 co-planting of Xarel·lo and Bastard Negre remained intact. The fruit was hand-picked, whole-cluster pressed, fermented in concrete eggs and kept on lees for years before disgorgement.

From the atlas

Mas de Serral de Pepe Raventós

At A Glance

Mas de Serral de Pepe Raventós is Pepe Raventós’s personal project in the Anoia Valley, northwest of Barcelona. Its central bottle, Mas del Serral, is a long-aged sparkling wine from a 1.9-hectare plot of co-planted Xarel·lo and Bastard Negre; the still-wine range follows individual plots into Malvasia de Sitges, Xarel·lo and Bastard Negre bottlings.

The Producer

Pepe Raventós is the 21st generation of a family that has worked this estate since 1497. Mas de Serral focuses that long family connection on small, named sites: Clos del Serral supplies the sparkling wine, while Vinya de la Plana, Vinya del Noguer and the Terrasses del Serral supply separate still wines. The result is a range in which grape and parcel remain visible in the bottle rather than disappearing into a broad house blend.

Place

The estate sits in the rural Anoia Valley near the Montserrat mountains, northwest of Barcelona. Mas del Serral’s acidity, citrus and saline finish begin with that inland setting and its calcareous ground, while the long lees ageing builds a second layer of toast and nuts over the fruit. The place is therefore not a regional label on the bottle alone: it is the source of the wine’s fresh line beneath its developed sparkling-wine character.

Soil And Site

Clos del Serral is a north-facing 1.9-hectare plot between forest and lake, with a slight north-to-northwest slope, clay over limestone and shelter from the Serral forest. Its Xarel·lo and Bastard Negre were planted together in 1954. Limestone and diatoms in the wider Anoia Valley come from an ancient marine environment; in Mas del Serral, that ground is reflected in a mineral, saline finish rather than broad fruit weight.

Story

Mas del Serral grew from Pepe Raventós’s decision to single out Clos del Serral as a site for sparkling wine. Instead of treating the parcel as one component among many, he kept its unusual field blend of white Xarel·lo and red-skinned Bastard Negre together, then took the finished base wine through extended bottle ageing. That choice makes the wine less about a generic sparkling style and more about one planted plot: citrus and herbal notes from the fruit sit beside brioche, honey and hazelnut from time on lees.

Vineyards And Cellar

The vines at Clos del Serral were worked without tractors for two decades, using people and animals in the parcel. Across the project, biodynamic and organic farming includes animal traction, compost and cover crops. On the clay-over-limestone ground, hand work avoids machinery in the vineyard; in the glass, Mas del Serral keeps lively acidity and a mineral finish even after long ageing.

For the 2014 Mas del Serral, fruit was hand-picked, selected again grain by grain, whole-cluster pressed and fermented in concrete eggs before 100 months on lees. Concrete contributes no overt oak flavour, leaving citrus, herbal fruit and the site’s saline edge exposed; lees ageing supplies the toast, brioche and nut notes and gives the mousse a finer texture. The still wines use cement, ceramics, amphorae or open barrels according to grape and plot. Malvasia de Sitges ferments with indigenous yeasts in cement and rests eight months on lees, while the Bastard Negre is fermented in an open barrel.

Wines

Mas del Serral is the long-aged sparkling wine and the project’s focal bottle: co-planted Xarel·lo and Bastard Negre from Clos del Serral, fermented in concrete and aged extensively on lees. Its range role is depth and development—citrus and mineral character carried by acidity, then toast, honey and hazelnut drawn from bottle ageing.

The still wines separate the estate into individual grape-and-site expressions. Malvasia de Sitges Vinya de la Plana 2023 is a 100% Malvasia from a 1.40-hectare vineyard planted in 2018; cement fermentation and lees ageing give its citrus and orchard fruit a textured, dry palate. Xarel·lo Vinya del Noguer comes from approximately 50-year-old vines on calcareous clay and uses cement and ceramics, a route that keeps the grape’s fruit and structure clear. Bastard Negre de les Terrasses del Serral is a red from west-facing vines over 40 years old on poor limestone, fermented in an open barrel for a more tannic, red-wine expression.

In The Glass

Mas del Serral opens with citrus and herbs, then moves toward toast, honey, hazelnut and spice as it takes air. The palate is dry and high in acidity, with fine mousse rather than frothy volume; a light tannic grip from Bastard Negre adds shape beneath the bubbles. Extended lees ageing explains the brioche and nut flavours, while the limestone site keeps the finish mineral and saline.

Malvasia de Sitges Vinya de la Plana offers a different register: lemon zest, grapefruit, white peach and melon meet orange blossom, fennel, thyme and sea spray. Cement fermentation and eight months on lees give the dry wine a lightly creamy texture without oak flavour. Its acidity carries almond and mineral notes through a long finish.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Mas del Serral. It is the bottle where the project’s defining decisions meet in one glass: the north-facing Clos del Serral parcel, Xarel·lo and Bastard Negre planted together since 1954, whole-cluster pressing, concrete-egg fermentation and roughly a decade on lees. Expect dry citrus, herbs, toast, honey and hazelnut, with fine mousse, firm acidity and a saline mineral finish. It comes first because no other bottle combines the project’s historic field blend, named plot and extended sparkling-wine ageing so directly.

Anecdote

In 2012, the Raventós family left the Cava appellation, despite its historic connection to the family’s sparkling-wine past. Pepe Raventós was working toward a more site-specific expression of the Anoia Valley, with its limestone soils, farming and named parcels at the centre of the wine. Mas del Serral consequently appears outside Cava while remaining a Spanish sparkling wine from Clos del Serral. The wine itself continued on its own slow schedule: fruit from the co-planted 1954 vines was selected by hand, pressed whole cluster, fermented in concrete eggs and held on lees for years before disgorgement.

Final Word

Mas de Serral makes its clearest case in the contrast between a slowly matured sparkling wine and still wines from nearby micro-plots. Follow the bottle names back to the parcels: clay and limestone, distinct grapes and vessels chosen to keep fruit, texture and structure legible.

Sources

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