Leon Barbier came to Catalonia over a century ago. The son of vineyard proprietors in the Avignon region, Barbier applied his knowledge of the French tradition of treating grapes to Catalonia's climate and soil.
The result was the production of magnificent, supreme quality red, white and rosé wines Since then, subsequent generations of the Barbier family have respected and continued the same tradition of wine preparation.
The process begins with the manual harvesting of the grapes during September and October in the D.O. Penedès vineyards. When making white wines the must is cleared, thereby removing solid parts, and is transferred to temperature-controlled stainless steel vats. For red wines, maceration takes place with the solid parts of the grape kept in contact with the must, in order to extract the flavours from the fruit. This is how the wine acquires its characteristics: colour, body, aromas and ageing capacity.
For rosé wines,the maceration time is shorter, giving a fresh young wine. Once this is done, yeast is added and the fermentation process begins, at a constant temperature of between 14º and 18º C. The reds, and some whites, are also aged in oak barrels and then filtered once more.
Since 1984, the René Barbier bodegas have belonged to the Freixenet Group. Its wine products are marketed in over 50 countries, and in Sweden, it is the brand leader in its class.