The Cava Route through Penedès

Sant Sadurní d'Anoia accounts for around 75% of all cava production. This is home to the great houses —Codorníu, with its spectacular Art Nouveau estate designed by Josep Puig i Cadafalch and listed as a Historic-Artistic Monument, and Freixenet— along with dozens of family-run cava houses. Descending into their miles of underground galleries, where millions of bottles rest in the dark at a constant temperature, is the essence of the visit.

The town, home to little more than 12,000 people, lives by and for cava: beneath its streets stretch over a hundred kilometres of cellars carved into the rock, and every September it celebrates the Fira del Cava, with tastings, music and the local "cavatast" tradition. Many wineries are just a few minutes' walk from the train station, so you can string together two visits in a single morning without needing a car.

Cava is made using the traditional method: the second fermentation takes place inside the bottle itself, which rests on its lees for a minimum of nine months (longer for reserva and gran reserva). On the visit you'll see the native grape varieties —macabeo, xarel·lo and parellada—, the riddling and disgorgement, and you'll taste several cavas, from brut nature to reserva.

You'll learn to tell cavas apart by their aging —de Guarda (at least 9 months), Reserva (over 15) and Gran Reserva (over 30)— and by their sweetness, from the dry brut nature to the sweet, with the popular brut in between. There is also Cava de Paraje Calificado, the top category, from a single vineyard and with long aging.

On the visit you'll see the riddling up close (once done by hand on pupitres, now also with gyropalettes) and the disgorgement, the moment the sediment is expelled and the bottle receives its dosage. That's what sets an ordinary sparkling wine apart from a cava with years of aging on its lees, which is where those aromas of toasted bread, almond and pastry that you'll recognise in the tasting come from.

Penedès goes far beyond the classic tasting. These are the experiences that make the getaway worth it:

• Tastings paired with cava and local produce: cured meats, cheeses and both sea and mountain cuisine.
• Vineyard tours by tourist train, 4×4 or e-bike among the xarel·lo vines.
• "Coupage" workshops to create your own blend, and blind tastings pitting brut nature against gran reserva.
• Staying at a masia or agritourism among the vines to experience sunrise over the vineyard.
• The grape harvest and cava festivals of Sant Sadurní, in September, with grape treading and activities for the whole family.

The grape harvest (late August to October) is the liveliest time, and Christmas is cava's high season, when many cava houses schedule special visits. Spring offers the best weather for walking among the vineyards. Book your visits in advance, especially at Christmas and during the harvest.