On 17th July 2024, the Peñín Guide published the wines that obtained 100 points in their annual tastings.
Enoteca Gramona 2011 topped the list as the first sparkling wine in the country to obtain the highly prized score. It was also declared Best Sparkling Wine and Best Wine in Guide for the 2025 edition. These awards are of historical significance, not only for the winery but for the entire region.
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A dream of two generations
Enoteca was born out of the family’s fifth generation pioneer work for long ageing sparkling wines. Cousins and professional accomplices Xavier and Jaume Gramona dreamt of making a wine that would be aged for over ten years. It would surpass Celler Batlle, the house’s longest aged wine at that time.
The family has been making long-aged sparkling wines since the fourth generation Gramona Batlle brothers decided to put into practice what their parents had envisaged. Sparkling wines made from Xarel-lo with prolonged cellar ageing would improve in organoleptic complexity, nuances of aromas, flavours and creaminess, without losing the freshness of the fruit and the chalky soils. Empirical confirmation came with the uncorking of bottles that had been stored in the family’s caves during the years of the Civil War and the Second World War. Tasting revealed that Gramona’s sparkling wines had grown, matured, and were reminiscent of the mythical champagnes that had been highly sought after following the war.
Enoteca today is the crowning achievement of a winemaking style that has evolved through time generational change and defines Gramona until today.
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“Wines of absolute perfection”
This is how the group of tasters from the Peñín Guide define the wines which they award with one hundred points. With a track record of more than thirty years, it is considered the most comprehensive Spanish wine guide in the world leading the national and international promotion of the culture of wine produced in Spain.
About Enoteca 2011’s 100 points, Peñín has written: ‘Without a single doubt, Enoteca Gramona 2011 is the best sparkling wine that can be found in our country nowadays. It is a wine that has already reached perfection with 99 points four times. Simply and plainly put, this wine is perfect for its finesse and elegance, for its richness of earthy nuances, and for the definition of a style that transcends the values of a great sparkling wine. It carries the unique and exclusive traits of the Gramona house . There are some wines that are capable of transcending time, and this is one of them’.
Enoteca Gramona was recognised as a great wine by the Peñín Guide in the 2017 edition, when it was named Best Wine and awarded 99 points, the maximum possible score at that time. This was until 2022, when the Peñín team decided to go beyond the conceptual border of three figures. Enoteca Gramona 2001 became the first sparkling wine in the country to be considered the best wine in the absolute category of a guide.
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A paradigm shift in the world of Spanish sparkling wines
The fact that a long-aged sparkling wine from Penedès has been declared the best wine in a guide on two separate occasions is of historical significance. It is a recognition of the professionalism and hard work of Xavier and Jaume Gramona. This not only goes for the oenological aspect but also in raising awareness for the value of these wines, as well as what it has meant to teaching about tasting aged sparkling wines from this area. What is known in-house as ‘the paradigm shift’ has been the result of efforts to demonstrate that the sparkling wines of the Penedès and, among them, those of the Gramona family, have the qualities to stand next to the great internationally established sparkling wines. This was evident in the blind tastings organised in Barcelona, Madrid and New York, in which Enoteca Gramona along with Celler Batlle and III Lustros truly shone.
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The luxury of time
The road taken to uncork a bottle of Enoteca 2011 is very long: The wine comes from more than fifty year old Xarel·lo and Macabeo vines in the Font de Jui area. The vines are carefully pruned and harvested by hand. It rests in the silence of the cellers for many years, and is patiently batonaged, riddled and disgorged by hand by our craftsmen.
At Gramona, it is said that the fundamental ingredient in the production of long-aged sparkling wines is time. For us, the ability to dedicate all this time to our work is the greatest luxury. That is why all of us together, family and team, have received the award as an acknowledgement, a sign to continue our work to achieve excellence and to keep the long-aged sparkling wines of the Penedès amongst the most desirable ones in the world.
