Antonio Mascaró

1894, Mr. Narcís Mascaró Marcé was born in 1894 in a business family dedicated to wine tradin¡g. He was the middle of the five children of Mr. Antoni Mascaró Castellet and Mrs. Josefa Marcé Miret.

1919, He was studying in Switzerland with his older brother, Josep, a wine merchant in Lausanne, when his father died in 1919 and he decided to return to Vilafranca del Penedès, his hometown. The family business became Mascaró Widow & Sons, as it can be seen in the list of wine exporters that appears in the first issue of the PENEDÈS Magazine, published on January 6, 1919.

1929, That same year, Mr. Narcís married Mrs. Maria Carbonell Juliachs. The couple had three children: Montserrat, Ma Rosa Ma and Antoni, who was born in 1928. Once married, in the 20\'s, Mr. Narcís became independent of the family business but he continued with the wine and spirits trade activity and he owned a alcohol distillery in Vilafranca del Penedès and offices in Vilafranca del Penedès and in Barcelona (Spain).

1940, That year the family moved to the modernist style house acquired at Casal Street. In the same building they installed the distillery. It was then that they also bought the \"Mas Miquel\" vineyards estate.

1946 In 1946 Mr. Narcís started trading products under MASCARÓ brand. The first products that arrive to market were a cava, a brandy and an orange liqueor. At that time Mr. Antoni Mascaró, his son, started studying chemistry at the Industrial School at Barcelona. This training allowed him to study in greater depth the process of distillation. He specialize in this job and he became a master.

1960, Montserrat Mascaró was born at 1960, the result of the marriage of Mr. Antoni Mascaró and Mrs. Àfrica Alemany. In that year the new facilities outside Vilafranca del Penedès began to work. Gradually the activity of producing spirits and liquours moved to these facilities which today is home to the cellar, wine distillery and brandy aging zone.

1966, In 1966 Mr. Antoni Mascaró Carbonell succeeds his father in the company management. The renewed commitment and passion he feels for the profession led him to customize and expand the range of producted products produced. In those years the company began to export outside Spain.

1988, In 1988 Mrs. Montserrat, Mr. Antoni Mascaró\'s daughter, joined the company. Her studies in Agricultural Engineering and the work day by day with her father make her gains insights into products development and the company in general.

1994, In 1994 Mr. Antoni and her daughter Mrs. Montserrat initiate a process of rebranding of all products and they develop the Mascaró symbol. In 1997 Mr. Antoni Mascaró suffers serious health problems, which means that his daughter is at the forefront of the management of the company. Today and after the death of Mr. Antoni Mascaró in 2007, the company remains fully familiar.

The Mascaró spirits, cavas and wines are borned in Penedès region, Spain, in “Mas Miquel” and “El Castell” estates, where we work the land for three generations. The “Mas Miquel” estate is located in Aiguamúrcia (Alt Camp) and it has 35 hectares under vine cultivation, registered at D.O. Penedès and D.O. Cava. The estate, which has a total of 170 hectares, is adjacent to the Monastery of the Holy Cross and has been dedicated to growing grapes through centuries because in the past it was owned by the monks of the monastery, who already worked the land.

“Mas Miquel” is one of the highest areas in the Penedès region and is bordering with D.O. Tarragona. This area is cold and it has light and wind, which prevents the vines from suffering many diseases, thus reducing the use of chemicals such as pesticides. The quality of the Mascaró spirits, cavas and wines begins in the raise of these vineyards. The winemaker of the family takes care here of the first steps of the process, ensuring that the final product live up to our customers’ expectations.

The estate “Mas Miquel”, registered at D.O. Cava, is the origin of the Mascaró Reserva and Grand Reserva cava. There, one of the highest areas of the Penedès region we have different grape varieties which we use to produce our cavas: Parellada, Macabeo, Chardonnay, Grenache and Xarel.lo.

Harvesting is manual at Mascaró and the transport to the cellar is made in small boxes to preserve the maximum quality of the fruit, that we collect in their optimum ripeness. To prepare our cavas we press the grapes without destemming, champanya style, that means that we squeeze but not break the grain, and we reserve the grape-juice of the highest quality, which is fermented at controlled temperatures to preserve its rich aroma.

We process each of our cavas varieties separately, thus obtaining, after fermentation, the wine base of Parellada, Macabeo, Chardonnay, Grenache and Xarel.lo. Once the base wine is already stabilized and clean, the winemaker of the family realizes the Mascaró blend, a process that defines the personality of the author and complexity of our Reserva and Gran Reserva cavas. Thus, the Cuvée Antonio Mascaro is a blend of Parellada (50%), Macabeo (35%) and Chardonnay (15%); Pure is a blend of Parellada (80%) and Macabeo (20%; Nigrum and Ambrosia are a blend of Parellada (60%), Macabeo (30%) and xarel.lo (10%); and Rubor Aurorae is Grenache 100 %.

In the darkness of our cellars, located in the center of Vilafranca del Penedès (Spain), it is forged the reputation of Mascaró Reserva and Gran Reserva cavas. This is where, after the process of circulation, our bottles lay for a minimum period of 2 years until they reach our consumers. Our underground cellars, which are preserved as they were built in the 40s are constructed in Catalan vaults and are connected with rails to help move the bottles. At Mascaró we put the bottles in rows manually.

When the cava is optimum for consumption, we start the “remuage” the riddling process that involves gradual turning and inversion of the bottle to bring the lees into the neck prior to their removal of removing. Mascaró Reserva and Gran Reserva cava comes in two bottles of different sizes (standard and magnum) and this leads us to use two different mechanisms for the “remuage”: in some cases we use cages and in other we do it manually. In our cellars still remain some “casal”, which is the name of our Street and that was used to make the “remouge” in a space filled with sand that allows different positions of the bottle to bring the lees into the neck, preparing it for disgorgement.

The process of cava production ends with disgorgement, freezing the neck of the bottle, and the addition of the expedition liquor only for Brut and Semi-dry cavas. For visitors who want to get to know better how cava was made long time ago, at Mascaró we have a museum where you can see the old manual disgorgement zone. The care and attention to detail throughout all the process, and the long aging, give complexity to Mascaró Reserva and Gran Reserva cavas, quality products with a long tradition and recognition.

A Mascaróis, according to the Dictionary of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language, a “fantastic face disforme or used as adornment in certain works of architecture’. The Mascaró as a decorative architectural ornament has been used throughout history but is mainly related to the neoclassic period. If you walk around our cities you will be able to find many of them embellished buildings and accompanying our daily life. They are usually crowning lintels or decorating fountains, givint architecture a trait of humanity as well as ornamental trim or exclamation force.

We choose our symbol while we were ​​looking for a fantastic mythological being, half-man and half lion. On one hand, the lion suggests strength, beauty and sovereignty; on the other hand, the man represents intelligence and sensitivity. Our Mascaró symbolizes the power applied to creation. It is a work of Lluís Hortalà, a sculptor who was borned in Girona, Spain.