As part of the MIB programme, today the class visited Codorníu’s HQ in Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, about one hour away from Barcelona.

Codorníu is a sparkling-wine brand, owned by the Codorníu Group. They’ve been in business since 1551. Since its origin, it has been owned by the same family.

We took a bus departing right in front of EAE, along with our Professional Development tutor Romá Andreu. About 75% of the class participated in the trip. We got there at about 10 AM and were received in the lobby.

The architecture of the place is amazing. It was specially designed for the winery by catalan architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch.

The class had a really good time. We visited the wine cellar caves, 22 meters below ground and at 15° celsius. We took a ride in the motor train and took some nice photos and crazy videos. Later in the tour, we tasted an amazing cava called Gran Codorníu Rosé. Jess and I agreed on its excellent taste.

As stated, Codorníu is a brand from the Codorníu Group. This group owns many wine product brands throughout the world. The main stack of the products are made in the Barcelona site. The other winerys are in Napa Valley and in Mendoza. Each site has its own production of wines. These are distributed around the world in Codorníu’s markets.

They have a huge chunk of their market in Spain (54%) and North America (11%). UK is another important market. The rest are Asia, South America and Central Europe.

Their aim is in the quality sparkling wine segment. The cheapest available bottle from Codorníu is about 5 euro. They don’t compete with low-priced wines or cavas.

Codorníu’s differentiator is the taste, quality and the overall experience. They produce about 60 million bottles worldwide, but in the premises doesn’t look like it. There’s something artistic and stylish about wine-making that shouldn’t be viewed as a mass-producing company (even though they are). It’s all about the Codorníu experience.