By car, take the A7 towards Tarragona and Lleida, exit 27 to Sant Sadurní d´Anoia. Journey time, 30-40 minutes.

Apart from learning how the Codorníu wine label originated in 1551 - some of the documents from that era have been preserved - a tour around the estate will take you through the whole process of transforming ripened grapes into bottles of bubbly. The buildings are of modernistic design, set in lush gardens. The tours are free. Although they tend to get booked up, you will be fitted in if you turn up unannounced. You also get to taste the end results. The one to ask for, and buy, is the Anna de Codorníu cava which is made from the chardonnay grape and is delicious, and only 6.5€. The label is named after an heiress to the Codorníu heritage who in 1659 at the age of 14 married a neighbouring wine-grower called Miquel Raventós, thus switching ownership of the vineyard.

It was a subsequent generation of the Raventós family who two centuries later started producing cava and when Manuel Raventós took over the business in 1885 he decided to focus exclusively on producing the sparkling wine, travelling to France to learn the French art of champagne-making.