Why it matters
The producer
In 1978, Josep Maria Albet converted the family estate to organic viticulture. Albet i Noya became the first winery in Spain to make that commitment. The choice had no obvious upside at the time. It has shaped every bottle the estate has made since.
The estate sits at Can Vendrell de la Codina in Sant Pau d'Ordal, a village in the Penedès appellation southwest of Barcelona. The family has farmed here across five generations, from Joan Albet i Rovirosa's arrival as a tenant farmer in 1903 through to the current estate. The 80 hectares of certified organic vineyards climb through dry-stone terraces and Mediterranean forest to 400 metres in the Ordal Mountains, a cooler and higher address than the flatland Penedès familiar from volume production.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
The Penedès appellation runs south from Barcelona toward the coast, but Albet i Noya's parcels belong to the mountain section: the Ordal range, where altitude pulls temperatures down and extends the growing season. At 400 metres, the mornings are cool enough that grapes hold acidity through harvest even when midday sun has pushed ripeness into ripe, spiced fruit territory. The dry-stone terraces that hold the vineyards in place are not decorative; they are the only way to farm a slope that would otherwise shed soil with each rainfall.
The appellation label on the bottle reads Penedès for the still wines and Clàssic Penedès for the sparkling range, the latter a designation specific to traditional-method sparkling wines produced within the broader Penedès zone. The Ordal Mountains address gives both still and sparkling wines a cooler, firmer backbone than lower-altitude Penedès, which tends toward more generous, warmer fruit.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The 80 hectares are farmed entirely without synthetic inputs, with harvest done by hand on the steeper terrace parcels where the gradients make mechanical picking impossible. The elevation and terrace orientation mean each parcel ripens differently, and the range architecture reflects that: south-facing terraces produce the Garnacha that leads Les Timbes, while different plots supply the Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot that go into Reserva Martí from the El Cafeter vineyard.
In the cellar, the fermentation hall at Can Vendrell de la Codina retains its original parabolic concrete tanks beneath arches built in the Gaudí-influenced Catalan tradition. Alongside those original tanks sit acacia barrels, stainless steel vats, and concrete eggs, giving the winemaking team a full range of vessel options for different wine styles. Pneumatic presses handle whole-cluster and grape pressing gently, protecting aromatic freshness. Wines are fermented and aged as follows: no oak at all for Icones Negre, used French oak for Les Timbes, and 24 months in new French barrels for Reserva Martí.
Wines to know
The range in view
The red range runs across three tiers, each with a distinct cellar approach.
Icones Negre blends Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo (locally called Ull de llebre), and Garnacha. Fermentation runs 10 days at 23°C with 5 days of skin maceration to extract colour and soft tannin without hardness. No barrel aging. The wine goes through cold stabilisation and light filtration before bottling. Violet tones, soft red fruit, and an easy, approachable texture make it the estate's everyday bottle.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Les Timbes is where the estate's organic Ordal Mountain character is clearest. Garnacha from south-facing terraces blended with Tempranillo from the Capellades plot, aged in second- and third-year French oak so the vessel supports without dominating. It is cherry red, with ripe fruit, spice and a faint cocoa note on the nose, and a palate with real acidity holding the warmth in check. It is Mediterranean without being heavy, textured without the weight of new oak. Start with Les Timbes to understand what the Ordal terraces deliver and what the family's four decades of organic farming look like in a glass.