Can Sumoi


“It’s good to ride a bicycle,” says Pepe Raventós, laughing. “It enables you to drink a lot more wine!” In his case, it also led to the acquisition of a new winery, as it was on one of his many rides as a keen cyclist that he first saw a tumbledown finca dating from 1645 in El Pla de Manlleu, west Penedès, which offered just what he and business partner Francesc Escala, both of Raventós i Blanc, had been seeking. “We needed a home for our still wines, but it was hard to find a place that captured us. And it was actually that day on a bike ride that we fell in love with the place.” They had to outbid another potential suitor who wanted to turn it into a chicken farm but, says Pepe, “when the owner realized that we wanted to recuperate the true past of the place, it was an easy negotiation.”
 
Pepe is the closest thing Catalonia has to vinous royalty – his lineage stretches back 21 generations and his ancestor invented Cava in 1872. Having seen how success had corrupted quality at the family’s historic winery, Codorníu, his grandfather Josep Maria sold his shares and founded Raventós i Blanc in 1985, only to die from heart failure a year after the first harvest. Pepe and his father Manuel worked tirelessly to avoid bankruptcy, ultimately placing themselves at the forefront of the locale’s biodynamic wine movement. Back in 1999 however, when Raventós i Blanc had to fight to keep afloat, Pepe started producing a still wine called ‘Perfum’ to increase turnover, while dreaming of one day buying vineyards elsewhere in the region to keep the two styles apart. That dream is realised in Can Sumoi.
 
The estate comprises 400ha, most of which is woodland but includes 20ha of old vineyards, which Pepe and Francesc have worked since 2016. At 600m above sea level, it is the highest integrated estate in Penedès and the altitude provides both good air flow, ensuring healthy grapes, and a cooler microclimate than the broader area, enabling them to harvest at a low pH (higher acidity). Farming is certified biodynamic but Pepe is keen to go further and is developing a philosophy called ‘biosynergy’, encompassing every element of the land, its animals, its history, and so on, into one sustainable whole. His “clean and precise” style of winemaking includes manual harvests, the use of native yeasts and spontaneous fermentation, no additions of sulfur or additives, inert gas used to prevent oxidation, extreme temperature control and small-batch bottling. 
 
In addition to ‘Perfum’ (a white made with Malvasia, Macabeo, Moscatell and Parellada), Can Sumoi’s collection includes a lively rose from Sumoll, Parellada and Xarel·lo (more Provençale in style than many Spanish roses), a series of Pét-Nats (natural sparkling wines) and a pure Xarel·lo. “Xarel·lo is the king,” says Pepe, proudly. Part of what makes Can Sumoi such an exciting prospect is not only the renaissance of a long-forgotten heritage, but the ambition of elevating a grape not conventionally regarded capable of greatness, an idea Pepe picked up working for the late Loire Valley iconoclast Didier Dagueneau in 2004. “What inspired me was how he expressed soil through Sauvignon Blanc,” Pepe says. “I thought I must be able to do this with Xarel·lo. The thing I really took away was belief – he was a believer in what he was doing.” 

LOCATION: Can Sumoi

Can Sumoi
GENERAL INFO PRODUCER APPELLATIONS FOUNDED ANNUAL PRODUCTION FARMING
Can Sumoi 2016 N/A Organic/Sustainable
TECHNICAL INFO WINE BLEND VINE AGE SOIL TYPE VINEYARD AREA
Xarel Lo Xarel Lo average 40 years limestone 7 ha
La Rosa 30 years Limestone Clay 9 ha
Ancestral Montonega 45 years Clay 1.5
Ancestral Sumoi 40 years limestone/clay 1.5ha
Perfum 25 years Clay 9 ha
Sumoll/Garnacha 25 years limestone/clay 3 ha

GENERAL INFO

  • PRODUCER: Can Sumoi
  • APPELLATIONS:
  • FOUNDED: 2016
  • ANNUAL PRODUCTION: N/A
  • FARMING: Organic/Sustainable

TECHNICAL INFO

  • Xarel Lo
  • BLEND: Xarel Lo
  • WINE AGE: average 40 years
  • SOIL TYPE: limestone
  • VINEYARD AREA: 7 ha
  • La Rosa
  • BLEND:
  • WINE AGE: 30 years
  • SOIL TYPE: Limestone Clay
  • VINEYARD AREA: 9 ha
  • Ancestral Montonega
  • BLEND:
  • WINE AGE: 45 years
  • SOIL TYPE: Clay
  • VINEYARD AREA: 1.5
  • Ancestral Sumoi
  • BLEND:
  • WINE AGE: 40 years
  • SOIL TYPE: limestone/clay
  • VINEYARD AREA: 1.5ha
  • Perfum
  • BLEND:
  • WINE AGE: 25 years
  • SOIL TYPE: Clay
  • VINEYARD AREA: 9 ha
  • Sumoll/Garnacha
  • BLEND:
  • WINE AGE: 25 years
  • SOIL TYPE: limestone/clay
  • VINEYARD AREA: 3 ha