Barcelona Brands brings organic Cava from the Penedès into your glass
Barcelona Brands is a Catalan beverage company founded in 2014 by Belgians Christopher Heirwegh and Christel Weemaes. It is known for its certified organic ¡Hola! Cava in its striped bottle, as well as a non-alcoholic sparkling wine and the tongue-in-cheek mulled wine "The ugly."
Barcelona Brands stands for Catalan sparkling wine in organic quality, packaged in a design that is recognizable at first glance. The company is based in Sant Pere de Ribes in the Garraf region, a good forty kilometers southwest of Barcelona, between the coastal mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. You can find four bottles from this range with us; all are vegan, and the Cavas are certified organic.
Two Belgians, a move, a Cava
Christopher Heirwegh and Christel Weemaes came to Catalonia from Belgium because they wanted to live closer to nature, the local cuisine, and the Mediterranean rhythm of life, and founded their own company in 2014.
Christel had previously worked in banking, while Christopher brought an entrepreneurial mindset. What was missing was a winery, and they still don't have one to this day. Instead of buying an operation, the two built something else: solid relationships with winemakers in the Penedès, a clear vision of how their Cava should taste, and a design that stands out on the shelf.
"We start with the connoisseur and work our way back from there," Christopher explains the company's approach. This is unusual for the wine world, where the vineyard is usually at the beginning and the drinker at the very end. Today, about ten people work for the brand, and according to the company, the grapes are processed by Spanish winemaker Joan Soler.
The name is a bit misleading, and that is intentional. "Barcelona" is on the bottle because the city stands for a specific way of life, but the work is done in the Garraf, that coastal region around Sitges and Vilanova where the mountains drop steeply down to the sea. From there, it is closer to the rows of vines in the Penedès than to the Rambla.
Two Cavas, one non-alcoholic, one mulled wine
We have four bottles from the range in our selection, and together they cover almost every occasion for raising a glass.
At the center is the Cava Hola Brut made from Parellada, Macabeo, and Xarel·lo: dry, with notes of green apple and almond, aged for seventeen months on the lees. Beside it is the Cava Hola Brut Rosé, in which Pinot Noir contributes color and berry fruit, making it creamier and more open than its white brother. Both are fermented in the bottle using the traditional method, both are certified organic, and both are vegan.
Those who want to toast without alcohol can reach for the Hola Sparkling 0.0% made from pure Macabeo, dealcoholized and topped up with grape must. And in the winter, The ugly Glühwein is added, a ready-spiced red wine based on Tempranillo, bottled with a label that imitates an ugly Christmas sweater.
Fruity, festive, and uncomplicated, these four see you through the year. Internationally, the company carries even more: a sangria called Lola Mola, the Mediterráneo line, and even a gin. For us, the focus is on the sparkling, as that is what the brand was made for.
Contracts instead of vineyards, chemical-free since 2016
Barcelona Brands does not own its own vineyards and does not want to. Instead, Christopher and Christel secure selected winemakers in the Penedès through long-term contracts.
That might sound less romantic, but it is the more honest setup. Anyone who follows the same plots over the years knows them better than someone buying the harvest on the open market, and the winemaker, in turn, can plan ahead. They choose primarily high-altitude locations up to seven hundred meters, where the nights remain cool. This preserves the acidity and makes fewer sulfites necessary.
Since 2016, nothing has been grown using chemicals in these rows. Harvesting is done by hand in the cool hours before dawn so that the grapes do not oxidize on the way to the press. Organic certification is held by the Consell Català de la Producció Agrària Ecològica, the Catalan control authority, under the number ES-ECO-019 CT.
Pressing and sparkling production take place at a partner facility, as the company does not operate its own cellar. This is not unusual in the Cava region and says nothing about quality, but it does say something about the division of labor: Barcelona Brands develops brands and recipes, while the craft of the second fermentation lies with experts who have a winery.
What the three Catalan varieties contribute can be easily distinguished. Parellada grows at the highest altitude and provides freshness; Macabeo grows lower and ensures roundness; Xarel·lo delivers structure and the most powerful aromas. Only together do they create what distinguishes a Cava from a Prosecco.
The Cava designation of origin requires at least nine months of aging on the lees. The Hola Brut receives almost double that time with seventeen months, and that is precisely where that fine, long-lasting perlage comes from, which remains in the glass instead of fizzling out after two minutes.
Gold at Mundus Vini for the Rosé
At the Mundus Vini Spring Tasting 2021, the ¡Hola! Cava Brut Pink in the 2018 vintage won a gold medal.
Mundus Vini is one of the major international wine competitions, organized by the Meininger Verlag, where tasting is done blind by professional juries. For a house of this size, without its own winery and without a centuries-old name, such a medal is a significant statement.
Other awards circulate in the trade, but they could not be traced back to the issuing body. We therefore mention only this one, rather than appending a long list that no one can stand behind.
The bottle design wears Barcelona’s sidewalk
The stripes and flowers on the Hola bottles are not decoration, but a citation. They show the "panot," the paving tile that covers half of Barcelona.
The company Escofet offered such cement tiles starting in 1891; in 1906, the city of Barcelona put out a tender for the paving of its sidewalks, and out of eighteen submitted designs, five remained in the end. One of them shows that four-petaled flower that every Barcelona visitor has under their feet today without ever consciously looking at it. By 2010, about five million square meters of it lay in the city.
Anyone handed such a bottle is therefore holding a piece of street furniture in their arms. By the way, no one knows exactly who designed the flower anymore: for a long time, the architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch was considered the creator, but this attribution was disproven in 2018. Barcelona's most famous tile is anonymous.
What you should start with
For a start, the Cava Hola Brut is the right bottle, because it shows what the company can do, and because it goes with almost everything.
Try it with salty items, anchovies, Marcona almonds, or young cheese. If, on the other hand, something sweet or delicate is on the table, such as shrimp or a bowl of berries, reach for the Rosé. And if someone in the group doesn't want to drink, the Sparkling 0.0% solves the problem without anyone standing in the corner with juice.
If you like Catalan treats, then also take a look at the Marlonas from the Penedès, caramelized almonds from the same area, or at Blanxart from Barcelona, which has been producing chocolate there since 1954. Both go excellently with Cava. You can find all the sparkling neighbors under Prosecco and Cava.
Start with one bottle and chill it. Everything else will take care of itself at the table.
