Josep and Antoni Mata Casanovas receive award for career accomplishments as Recaredo oenologists
Josep and Antoni Mata Casanovas, members of the second generation of the Recaredo family, were given the award by the Catalan Association of Oenologists for their careers as winemakers. The accolade is a recognition of the passion and energy that they have put into making sparkling wines for over six decades. The award was presented at “Oenology Night”, an annual dinner attended by nearly 80 people, including oenologists and wine professionals from around Catalonia.
Josep and Antoni Mata Casanovas started making wines in the 1950s, working with their father, Josep Mata Capellades, in the family business. Their desire to learn and improve drove them to study oenology and viticulture at schools around Spain—in Logroño, Vilafranca del Penedès, Valdepeñas, Madrid and Valencia. They also deepened their knowledge by making countless trips to wine regions all over the world.
More than 50 years of commitment and work
Over the 1970s and 1980s, Josep and Antoni Mata Casanovas began building Recaredo’s reputation as a byword for rigour, quality and passion in wine-making. At the same time, they embarked on a journey that would lead them to specialize in terroir sparkling wines, with the vineyards as a key element. The brothers defined Recaredo’s approach to viticulture, eventually adopting the business model known in French as récoltant-manipulant—the making of wine by producers on their own estate, from grapes harvested from their own vineyards.
The awards given by the Catalan Association of Oenologists are aimed at raising awareness—among specialists, influencers and consumers—of the key role oenologists play in “shaping the characteristics that give wine products character and sensory quality, thus giving oenologists the recognition they deserve”. This year, the Association also gave awards to journalist Ruth Troyano, in recognition of her role in disseminating the culture of the wine world, and to oenologist Montserrat Mascaró in the “best career trajectory” category.