Last fall, Buddy and I had the opportunity to visit Barcelona, Spain after our Rhone River Cruise with Nice Winery. While we were there, we toured Can Feixes Winery (pronounced cahn fay-hiss) nestled on the mountainous slopes north of the Upper Penedès wine region of Barcelona.
We drove to the winery through the beautiful Barcelona countryside after visiting Monserrat Abbey in the morning. It was about an hour’s drive to Can Feixes, which sits on the slopes of mountains that separate the Comarcas of Penedès and Anoia, which is northwest of Barcelona, Spain.
The family-owned winery is in the cava-producing region and practices organic wine making, as the Huguet family believes that “respect and protection of the environment are considered integral elements of quality wines.”
If you’re unfamiliar with cava, it is a Spanish sparkling wine most commonly made with macabeu, parellada, or xarel-lo grapes, although other varietals, such as chardonnay, are also used. Interestingly enough, cava is more similar in taste to champagne than prosecco.
About Can Feixes Winery
Can Feixes Winery sits at a high altitude, so the vines grow in extreme conditions. This results in a slower ripening process that gives greater concentration of flavor to the fruit. It also results in a limited production of wine.
They grow a wide range of varietals in their vineyards, including parellada, macabeo, malvasia de sitges, chardonnay, tempranillo, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, pinot noir, and petit verdot. This results in an equally wide range of wines and cavas produced exclusively from their vineyards.
Can Feixes has been in the Huguet family for many generations, and on their estates, there’s a small museum that has a variety of wine-making artifacts used by their family throughout the years. Some of these items include a wine press, wine barrels, and a variety of tools used in the vineyard.
There is also an old chapel on the estate that was used by the community in the past. A priest would travel to the chapel and hold services for the community. Can Feixes is full of family and community history that goes back many generations.
Wine Tasting & the Reserva Especial
After we toured their underground wine storage and wine making area of Can Feixes, we had a tasting in their courtyard, where we got to taste several amazing wines and a fantastic cava.
One of the wines that we purchased from the trip was a 2008 Reserva Especial, a cabernet sauvignon and merlot blend. The wine is made from the very best of the grapes from their vineyards and spends 12 months aging in new French oak barrels made from France’s beast forest and is then followed by at least 6 years in a bottle in their deep underground cellar.
It is a silky wine with notes of blackberry, fig and hints of vanilla. The wine is well balanced with little or no tannins. This is one wine you must add to your list!
Visiting Can Feixes Winery in Barcelona
When visiting Can Feixes Winery in Barcelona, be sure to email or call ahead, as they allow visits by appointment only.
Can Feixes Winery in the mountains of Spain was absolutely beautiful, but only part of our amazing trip to Barcelona. Follow Vino with Vonda on social media to get the update when I talk about everything else we did in Spain and tips for your own visit.
If you have any questions about traveling to Spain, leave a comment below!
