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Whither Cava, whether Penedes?….

December 9th, 2010

2. It is my opinion, that cava should be made from indigenous grape varieties, in the main and should come from Penedes. Better still, it should come from Sant Sadurni d’Anoia.

The Cava D.O is spread across Spain; cava can come from Utiel Requena, Navarra, Rioja and Extramadura as well as Penedes. All these areas enjoy different climates and variations in soil types. Each producer is permitted to make cava from a range of grape varieties, including the ubiquitous Chardonnay, and in a world where many wines are becoming increasingly homogenous it seems strange to me that Cava does not have a sense of place. It is a peculiarity. No other appellation in the world, as far as I know, is a national appellation. If cava were regulated to the same degree as all other specific wine producing regions of the world, then surely it would achieve a significant boost and it would taste like cava and not like a sparkling Chardonnay/Pinot blend from Australia, Chile, California, Hungary, Argentina (delete where appropriate). It would, by definition, achieve a sense of place.

It was apparent from the blind comparative tasting held earlier this year (20 odd cavas and some champagnes) that the favoured wines tasted by the assembled group were, as stated earlier, aged cavas. More importantly, the top three cavas came from the heartland of the permitted cava regions – being Penedes.

It must be possible to grade the vineyards, much like the Grand Cru/Premier Cru vineyards of Champagne. Vineyards planted with the traditional three varieties, in and around the traditional heartland of cava, would receive a 100% rating and those of growers outside the district or planted with international varieties a lower rating. Independent growers and producers who make their own cavas from their own grapes grown on their own land within the 100% rated area would benefit. Their wines would be seen as traditional in every respect and could perhaps be called Cava de Sant Sadurni or some other reference point. Larger producers who do not own their own vineyards within the regulated region and those producers outside the heartland would be called Cava. Some of these larger producers will continue to produce delicious cava and will source grapes from 100% rated vineyards alongside grapes grown in lower rated vineyards – the resulting cavas will probably start using terms such as 90% rated in their literature and sales speak – I remember doing the same thing for growers Champagnes years ago! It can and should produce a hierarchy for traditional cava

I am passionate about really good cava and want it to succeed in the market place. I want great cava to be seen to be better than the cheap fizzy froth on discount. Great cava needs to have a point of difference to separate it from the crowd as well as taste different. Growers striving to make the best should be rewarded for doing so. Consumers looking for the best should have a point of reference.

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Bottle aged cava – the life and soul

November 4th, 2010

1. Towards the end of August, Andrew Jefford wrote an excellent article titled “Comparison takes the fizz out of cava” in the FT.  In this article he praised bottle aged cava from Penedes – this is a subject dear to my heart, two subjects actually.

Let me stick to the one of those subjects for now – bottle aged cava.

“We are always the poor brother of champagne,” says the quietly spoken Ton Mata of Recaredo, one of the region’s finest producers. “It is possible to produce great cava, but it has to be great in a very different way from champagne. Sometimes we get a little bit sad because nobody believes that cava can be great.”
Agusti Torello of the company of the same name, casts the problem in a different light “It’s easy to produce a good sparkling wine here. But it’s very difficult to produce a cava with soul.” The lack of recognition leads Agustí Torelló’s sister Lali to call cava “the most undiscovered wine in the world”.

I agree with all the statements above. Cava can be great. I think that the best cavas do have soul and that soul comes from extended ageing of the wine on the yeast and from using the indigenous grape varieties of Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel-lo grown in their natural heartland of Penedes. Andrew Jefford agrees with that premise. Only when you have tried great aged cava from Penedes over the cheap fizzy froth offered by many multiples, particularly at this time of the year, do you really understand cava and do not want to compare it to Champagne. To explain the differences between cava and Champagne Jefford says -

“Champagne is made from barely ripe Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier in the coolest of vine-ripening climates. Acidity, therefore, is its main structural feature, balanced by the richness and texture of long-ageing on the yeast lees of secondary fermentation, and by the sugar in the wine used for topping up the bottles prior to dispatch. Great cava, by contrast, is made from the Catalan varieties Xarello, Macabeo and Parellada picked on the first cusp of ripeness in the much warmer climate of Penedès, just to the south of Barcelona. Both acidity and sugar are less important than for champagne; indeed many great cavas are entirely unsugared. Long lees ageing, however, is crucial. The end result is layered, textured and full, with an aromatic spectrum (thanks to those local varieties, grown on marine limestone in the Catalonian climate) quite unlike that of any other sparkling wine.
Prominent notes include wild white flowers like hawthorn and elder, as well as fennel, rosemary, ground almonds, chicory, peach, apple and lime, together with a saline, mineral edge. The bubbles seem almost accidental, but have the effect of lifting aromas out of the glass like fluffy, fair-weather cumulus on a warm summer’s day. Indeed, the profoundly Mediterranean character of cava makes its sensual personality seem intensely summery. Many of champagne’s perfections, by contrast, are northern, wintry and interior: cream, toast, brioche, all laminating that icicle-like acidity.
From the mid-1980s, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir have been authorised for use in cava. Since they are much earlier ripening than the local varieties, it is hard to see them ever producing nuanced sparkling wine in this warm-to-hot location. In my opinion, the greatest cavas are all produced from later-ripening local varieties, and especially the structured, age-worthy Xarello and the fragrant, enchanting Macabeo, which in cava hands appears much more intriguing than it does as its synonym Viura in still white Rioja.”

Earlier this year, I held a tasting of 20 cavas served blind and in flights. The price range was from £5.99 – £32.00; Flight 1 was basic cava, Flight 2 Reserva cava and Flight 3 Gran Reserva Cava. Within each category we had wines made from exclusively indigenous grape varieties, from solely the international grape varieties of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir making comparison with the Champagnes or “ringers” we had on show very real and wines from the five permitted regions spread across Spain that constitute the Cava DO. I had no idea what the results would prove, but was very pleased by the findings – particularly as we had representatives of some of the cava producers in the room.

The overall opinion from the assembled group of renowned tasters was that the aged cavas were preferred and of those, the cavas made from indigenous grape varieties were the overall winners. The Champagne was only put in their top three by two tasters.

Our tasting showed that comparison can put the fizz back into cava…..and as Andrew Jefford says to conclude his article – recognition will probably come for fine cava, but judge it with an open palate and be prepared to pay a little bit more for it

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