Gramona celebrates its centenary at the Palau de la Música

Emotional act of celebration of Gramona's centenary. More than 700 people gathered this Monday at the Palau de la Música Catalana to commemorate the production of the first bottle of sparkling wine produced by this Penedès family in 1921. Members of the fourth, fifth, and sixth generations of the Gramona family participated in an event that recounted the company's history and also featured sommeliers Ferran Centelles and Josep Roca, in addition to the Palau Chamber Choir.

With this event, Gramona wanted to pay homage to its ancestors and highlight the great objective that the company has always pursued and for which they feel great pride: to demonstrate that great sparkling wines can be made in Catalonia, the result of long aging and work with indigenous varieties (especially Xarel·lo), as they have been doing for 70 years, since in 1951 III Lustros, the country's first long-aged sparkling wine, was launched on the market.

The most emotional moment of the gala was the embrace between the two cousins who currently lead the company, Jaume and Xavier Gramona (fifth generation), and the words addressed to the room by the nonagenarian Josep Lluís Gramona (fourth generation and Jaume's father), surprised to see so many people gathered in the Palau to celebrate the anniversary.

"We have been fighting for many years to show the world that we can make great sparkling wines in our land," said Xavier Gramona, after recalling that in 1945 the winery was already able to show the world the aging capacity of its wines when Europe "needed to celebrate a victory and discovered us." As a consequence of the Second World War, the main wine-producing regions in Europe lacked stocks, but Gramona did have abundant reserves, as its sales had suffered from the wars and they had accumulated many barrels in their warehouses with more than ten years of aging. "Thanks to this historical accident, we received many orders and it turned out that expert tasters from all over Europe told us that they were excellent wines," Gramona recalled, in one of the many historical anecdotes explained at the Palau.

Jaume Gramona, technical manager and architect of the Sant Sadurní d'Anoia winery's position at the pinnacle of the wine sector in terms of prestige and quality, praised his 37 years of dedication to the company and expressed his emotion at having achieved "the dream" of implementing a biodynamic agriculture model throughout the estate that champions balance and minimal intervention in the vineyard. "Today I am very happy, but I have cried a lot to get here," he acknowledged.

Jaume Gramona also wanted to acknowledge the work carried out over the last decades by his cousin Xavier, commercial manager and head of the company's financial side since 1995. "Without you, this would not have been possible; I want to acknowledge it while you are alive. Together we have been unstoppable," highlighted the oenologist just before embracing his cousin.

The event also gave special prominence to the successors, members of the sixth generation, Roc and Leo Gramona, sons of Jaume and Xavier, respectively, and already fully incorporated into the company and taking on increasing responsibilities in the technical and commercial areas. "Leo and Roc are ready; they have a difficult challenge, but it's a pleasure to see them so complemented and enthusiastic. The handover is here," emphasized Josep Roca, sommelier of El Celler de Can Roca.

Before closing the celebration, Xavier Gramona wanted to justify one of the most important decisions made in the recent history of the winery: abandoning the Cava Designation of Origin to found, together with other companies, the collective brand Corpinnat. "We left cava, not out of pleasure, but because we had no other choice. We tried to get the regulatory council to make changes to be able to zone and distinguish a four-euro bottle from a hundred-euro one, but they didn't understand," said Gramona.

Some of these demands have finally been accepted by the DO Cava, which recently modified its regulations to introduce zoning and differentiate between 'cavas de guarda' and 'cavas de guarda superior'. In this sense, without explicitly requesting a reunification, Gramona asked "all agents in the territory to sit down and talk." "We would like to be able to support any initiative that would lead us all to think, first and foremost, about the territory," he concluded.