In 1924, a man named Josep Mata Capellades built a cellar under his house in the historic centre of Sant Sadurni d'Anoia and decided to make sparkling wine. He named the estate after his father, Recaredo Mata Figueres, a potter. A century later, his grandchildren are running one of the most thoughtfully farmed, longest-aged, and uncompromisingly dry sparkling wine estates in all of Spain.
Backstory
Josep Mata Capellades established Recaredo in 1924, pioneering brut nature production in the Penedes at a time when sweetness was the commercial standard. His sons Josep and Antoni Mata Casanovas carried the estate through its expansion in the mid-twentieth century, developing the family cellar -- familiarly known as Can Credo -- and deepening the house commitment to Xarel-lo as its primary variety. The third generation assumed management in 2008 under Ton Mata Moliner, who accelerated the move toward biodynamic farming, received Demeter certification in 2010, and in 2019 co-founded Corpinnat, a new quality collective mark for sparkling wines produced in the heart of the Penedes. That decision meant leaving the Cava DO behind, a bold statement that Recaredo's wines belong to a specific place, not a generic category. In 2024 the estate celebrated its centenary.
The Region
Sant Sadurni d'Anoia sits in the Alt Penedes, a plateau of limestone soils roughly 50 kilometres southwest of Barcelona at elevations between 150 and 300 metres. The Mediterranean climate delivers warm, dry summers and mild winters, with a diurnal temperature range that preserves acidity in the grapes through the growing season. The area is the traditional home of the Cava industry, but producers like Recaredo have worked to distinguish their wines from commodity sparkling production by insisting on estate fruit, biodynamic farming, and extended aging.
Vineyards and Farming
Recaredo farms 80 hectares of biodynamically certified vineyards planted primarily to Xarel-lo, Macabeu, Parellada, and smaller quantities of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Mourvèdre. Dry farming is standard, with hand harvesting and no herbicides or pesticides. Yields are held to approximately 6,000 kg per hectare, roughly half the appellation maximum. Celler Credo, the still wine project, manages 15 hectares under the same biodynamic principles, with Xarel-lo as its central focus.
Winemaking
All Recaredo sparkling wines are single-vintage, brut nature (no dosage), made using the traditional method and aged for a minimum of 30 months on lees, with some cuvees -- including the extraordinary Turo d'en Mota, a single Xarel-lo vineyard on limestone soil -- spending more than 150 months in bottle before disgorgement. Indigenous yeasts selected from the estate's own vineyards have been used for secondary fermentation since 2020. Disgorgement is performed by hand across the entire production. Celler Credo produces still whites using skin maceration and extended lees aging without added sulfites.
The Wines
Recaredo's range runs from Terrers, a Corpinnat Brut Nature aged a minimum of 30 months, through Subtil and Reserva Particular to Turo d'en Mota, the flagship single-vineyard wine. Celler Credo's portfolio centres on Xarel-lo in multiple expressions -- Miranius, Aloers, Ratpenat, and the biodynamic Capficat -- each exploring how the variety behaves across different soils and winemaking approaches. Together, the two projects represent one family's century-long argument that the Penedes, farmed honestly, makes wines of genuine distinction.