ワイン＆スピリッツ専門誌「ウォンズ」

Antoni Mata Casanovas

1942 – 2023

Born on April 28, 1942 in Can Credo, the home of the RECAREDO family in Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, Antoni Mata was already stirring yeasts at the age of 7 from the top of the foudres in the cellars founded by his father.

Innovative and visionary, Antoni Mata progressed the family project of the RECAREDO winery from a global vision of the business. He worked tirelessly at the forefront of the management, creativity, representation and oenology of RECAREDO.

A versatility that he knew how to manage thanks to his tenacity and constant desire to improve. His esteem for the territory led him to pave the way in the production of terroir sparkling wines, capable of expressing the most genuine identity of the Penedès and competing in prestige and quality with international sparkling wines. These values of territory and landscape, which he defended from conviction, are and will undoubtedly be an inspiring legacy for the team and for the new generations of Recaredo.

Antoni Mata was the architect of Recaredo’s great commitment to viticulture until he achieved a business model based on the management of his own vineyards. “We came from a family of potters, and we started making our sparkling wines with grapes from the vineyards of our maternal grandparents… The more we saw the great connection between the growing of vines and the Brut Nature and long-aged cavas that we liked, the more we were encouraged to try to find the best estates in the Penedès”, recalled Antoni Mata. And this is how his obsession with becoming true winegrowers led him to lead the acquisition of vineyards for the family winery of RECAREDO with a lot of effort and sacrifice.

Open to evolution and continuous changes, Antoni Mata prioritised remaining faithful to the use of natural cork stoppers as a guarantor of long ageing in the bottle, in a historical context in which the industrialisation of the sector meant the introduction of crown stoppers. This singularity, together with his firm commitment to creating sparkling wines without expedition liquor, forged his own style of wine that was essentially gastronomic, far from trends or ephemeral currents.

The desire to improve and learn motivated him to train in oenology and viticulture in different parts of Spain: from Logroño, Villafranca del Penedès, Madrid, Valencia or Valdepeñas, in addition to the countless training trips to wine regions around the world. Above all, Antoni Mata has professionally exercised what he was passionate about and has tried to transmit it from the prism of generosity and humble wisdom, sharing his passion with the Recaredo team and with friends of gastronomy and wine culture.

He belongs to a generation educated in the austerity of the time in which he lived. A generation that has worked without looking at the clock and with the commitment, always, to excellence and a job well done.