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Cava
What are we referring to when we talk about cava? Cava is a sparkling wine that is made mainly in Catalonia, but also in other parts of Spain such as in some provinces of Aragon, Extremadura, La Rioja, Basque Country, Valencia and Navarre.
Cava is made using the same process as champagne, known as the traditional or champenoise method, which consists of a procedure where, after an initial fermentation and bottling of a base wine, a second alcoholic fermentation is induced by adding a kind of syrup with a high concentration of yeasts and sugar, known as a liqueur de tirage. The bottle is sealed with a special cork because, with this second fermentation, the release of carbon dioxide that is given off by the action of the yeasts will give rise to the characteristic bubbles.
Cava shares its name with the Denomination of Origin that hosts it and regulates its production. The DO Cava is responsible for controlling and ensuring that, in the processes involved in the production of the sparkling wine, the quality standards that it has established are met. These are governed by regulations that, among other things, stipulate the authorised varieties of vines, the quality control of the vineyards to decide whether or not they have the right to grow grapes that will be used for producing cava, the technical specifications that the wineries have to meet in order to obtain the right to produce both the base wine and the cava, as well as the labelling rules in accordance with the ageing periods established by its regulations, where the minimum accepted is 9 months for young cavas, more than 15 for reserve cavas, more than 30 months for sparkling grand reserve and more than 36 months for a recent category that applies exclusively to those cavas whose processing area corresponds to a Paraje Calificado deemed extraordinary due to the conditions of the soils of its vineyards and the climate of that particular area; a way of identifying and attributing value to an exceptional terroir similar to the classification that is made in Champagne.
Very recently in Decántalo we talked to you about Corpinnat, this new collective identity of wineries which, as of last January, distanced themselves from the Cava Designation of Origin and that produce high quality sparkling wines in the heart of Penedès.
A similar case had already occurred in 2014 when the D.O Penedès promoted the creation of its own brand called Clàssic Penedès to support and recognise the production of quality sparkling wines. As a result of this, a group of wineries left the D.O Cava to continue producing sparkling wines under this new brand and under the auspices of the Penedès Denomination of Origin following specific guidelines, including the obligation to be 100% organic, 100% Penedès and 100% reserva. I.e. its sparkling come onto the market having undergone a minimum of 15 months of ageing.
Does this mean that the sparkling wines produced under the brands Corpinnat and Clàssic Penedès are of a better quality than those made under the protection of the D.O Cava?
One of the main guidelines of these two new denotations is in effect that of producing sparkling wines of the highest quality, which does not mean that all the wineries that strive to prioritise excellence are solely to be found under their auspices.
As we have already mentioned, the Denomination of Origin Cava has a regulation that regulates the quality of its products with a wider range of possibilities. For years cava has been considered as being a cheap option to champagne, and the four sparkling denotations in the country: Corpinnat, Clàssic Penedès, Conca del Riu Anoia and Cava seek to direct their efforts not to being considered the younger siblings of champagne, but rather identities recognised for their quality in the world market.
Hearing the word cava usually makes us think of Catalonia, however we shouldn’t forget that sparkling wines under this denomination are not created in a delimited area but rather come from regions scattered throughout Spain, unlike the other three nomenclatures, which defend the identity of their territory. Their sparkling wines are from the terroir.
Where is this revolution headed?
It’s clear that these four groups have not been able to reach an agreement that allows them to share certain concerns, and have therefore decided to take different paths. The negative part is that, meanwhile, these changes may cause confusion among consumers. The positive part? That all this bubble revolution is aimed at protecting and enhancing the identity of the sparkling wines produced in Spain while increasing their quality, and in that respect we should all end up winning.
