Jaume Gramona is a vitiviniculture artist; creator of wines such as ‘Vi de Gel’, ‘Moustillan’, ‘Gessamí’ or ‘Sauvignon Blanc’, renowned both for their personality and their quality. This avid researcher into the hidden secrets of wine stands out for his innate creativity and for his careful adaptation of family culture to current taste trends; while not forgetting that Gramona is a bodega known for making cavas with the longest ageing process on the market. From the youngest 18 month-old to the oldest 10 year-old cava, only comparable to some of the very best aged French Champagne.

Born in 1961, “Diplôme National” in Oenology by the University of Dijon (Burgundy) and Doctor in Sparkling Wines by the Rovira & Virgili University in Tarragona, Jaume Gramona took his first steps in oenology in the old Celler Batlle, founded in 1881. There he acquired the knowledge for making his first wines at Gramona, endorsed by DO Penedés, a place where he could experiment and put into practice the insight he had gained from his teachers and family. “I can’t see a difference; I think it’s more like continuity between the old Celler and the new facilities we opened in 2001, (a futuristic bodega in Sant Sadurní d’Anoia). For many years, I made wines there the best I could, with limited means. The Celler discovered me, then we had the opportunity to build another bodega, to improve and adjust, allowing me to create the bodega of my dreams, to give life to my ideal bodega”, the oenologist explained.

A one-in-a-million character from the region of Penedès: eager, innovative and, above all, passionate: “It would be impossible to innovate and make new creations without having a very solid background, which is what you get from tradition. Those basic principles, that experience transmitted from generation to generation, give you strength and enough confidence to go just that bit further. And then of course, seeing as you owe your existence to a traditional family, a well-known maker of artisanal cavas endorsed by DO Cava, it’s a little intimidating when the time comes to innovate.”

For Jaume, it is all about respect for tradition, but without renouncing his creative and innovative ambitions. However, “there can’t be a great cava without a great wine. A great cava is a coupage of various wines. Penedès is great because 99% of all Spanish cavas are made here, with altitudes that range from sea-level making really good Xarel•lo wines, to 800 metres where, for example, excellent Chardonnays and Parelladas are made. There are many terroirs: you might find three or more different terroirs on one single plot”, the vitalist Jaume Gramona points out, citing as an example of this last statement his Pinot Noir vineyard, where in just one hectare three different terroirs exist planted with three different types of vines.

Furthermore, another of the region’s qualities, which is also seen in the character of the cava, is the fact that the three varieties needed to make cavas: Macabeo, Xarel•lo and Parellada are all concentrated in this one region.