En els orígens de Codorniu. 1886-1905

Abstract

Manuel Raventós Domènech was responsible for transforming the farm of Can Codorniu into a large company making sparkling wine using the champenoise method. To make this possible, he had to travel to Reims and Épernay to learn about the procedures and techniques required. On his first trip, when he was only 23 years old, he was accompanied by a wine exporter from Tarragona, originally from the Champagne region, who was just one year older than Raventós. This was Joseph de Muller, whose father came from Reims but had moved to Tarragona when he was very young. He founded his own company. His aunt, Lucie de Muller, married Abelé in Reims. Their son, Henri Abelé, became one of Raventós's most important advisors. From this contact, and also because of the Catalan cork producers in the Champagne region, Raventós was able to follow all the major French champagne producers using the champenoise method of a second fermentation in the bottle. Thanks to them, he was able to create a company devoted to this goal, taking advantage of their know-how and the transfer of technology.