Cava

The origins of Cava date back to the mid-19th century around the village of Sant Sadurni d'Anoia, just south-west of Barcelona. Sparkling wine in Spain that calls itself Cava can be made in one of five different regions in the country, making the variety of potential styles very wide indeed. 

Cava shares the same traditional production method as Champagne, undergoing a second fermentation in the bottle to create a high quality sparkling wine we know and love. Traditionally using a combination of three indigenous grape varieties (Macabeu,  Xarello and Parellada), Cava has its own distinctive flavours of zesty, citrus notes, mouthwatering acidity, balanced with touch of salinity. But as is the case with all fine sparkling wines, like Champagne, Cava ages particularly well, with older wines boasting tertiary flavours of brioche and toasted nuts.

 

For those who love drinking excellent sparkling wine but don't want to pay Champagne-level prices, we highly recommend giving Cava a try. It can be great for celebrations (some are great value!) and wonderful for very special occasions (the quality seems to carry on going up and up), while being perfect on its own as an aperitif, or pairing wonderfully well with food... an excellent, classic wine to have on hand! 

In recent years there has been a dissatisfaction in the industry, of Cava producers themselves, that they had lost the ability to reach seriously high quality levels, or to clearly celebrate the delineation of place of origin in the wines. Or, perhaps more acutely, that there was a sense of a big melting pot called Cava that made poor wines look better than they were and wonderful wines appear to be average. The creation of new appellations such as Corpinnat by groups of producers who have removed themselves from Cava, has focused the world's attention and though Cava hasn't done anything to change its own broad regulations, the excitement and activity around the are has had the desired effect of growing sales and lifting the quality being sold. 

Spanish Sparklers are very much on the up, and we couldn't be happier!