A Revelation About Cava
June 24, 2011
Cava. I know what you’re thinking: cheap Champagne, right? The sort of wine you might see stacked up in the multiples and sold cheaply, destined to be drunk from a thousand plastic cups at the mid-summer office party.
Whereas other sparkling alternatives to Champagne such as Prosecco in Italy, Crémant (a sort of generic term for any sparkling wine made in France outside of Champagne) and countless examples from California, Australia, New Zealand and even England hold some sort of social caché, I have always felt Cava struggles a little. I’m reminded of the British playwright Willy Russell, who created a character, Rita, who when invited to a drinks party at her professor’s house loses her nerve at the last minute; ashamed of her working-class background and the wine she had bought. When the professor explains it wouldn’t have mattered if she bought a bottle of Spanish plonk, Rita admits her bottle was Spanish.
Snobbery aside, perhaps one of the reasons Cava’s reputation falters is that most of it is sold cheaply and a lot of its production can be very poor indeed. That and a series of court battles in the mid-’90s between the two largest producers, Codorníu and Freixenet, over various production methods, did nothing to promote the image of Cava around the world.
So you thought Cava couldn’t taste as good as Champagne? Well, maybe not. But it’s worth tasting Gramona, from northeast Spain, a welcome edition to the sparkling-wine family that does its level best to compete. Gran Reserva III Lustros is a blend of 70% Xarel-lo and 30% Macabeo, and is made using the same method as the sparkling wines in Champagne. This wine has a brilliant, bright straw color with a delightful nose that first attracts with a thick, yeasty flavor before giving way to a fresh, mineral, floral note.
In the mouth, it has a soft, gentle fizz that leaves an intense dry nuttiness.
I don’t have a lot of time for poor wine, but I have even less time for wine snobbery. In the past five years, I have enjoyed many bottles from Codorniu and Freixenet, as well as smaller producers such as Castellblanch, Signat and Raventós, that have been immensely enjoyable. At its best, Cava appeals because of its fresh, citrusy nose, which can take on fruit flavors such as apple peel, lemon, pear and grapefruit. Married with a distinctive, nutty, sometimes herbal softness on the palate that can taste quite different to the full yeasty flavor of Champagne, it pairs well with strong cheese and fried white fish.
There is also the added appeal of price, as Cava is invariably less expensive than Champagne. Or so I thought before I was introduced a few weeks ago to a producer that has considerably changed my perception of the quality of wines Cava can produce. Bodegas Gramona produces a range of wines that, at their best, are reminiscent of those sparkling wines produced in the rippled valleys between Epernay and Reims. But before we discuss the delights of Gramona, it is worth looking at where and how Cava is made.
Unlike Champagne, Cava doesn’t actually represent a region. Technically, it is a term for all Spanish sparkling wine made in the same way that Champagne is made in France. In what is now referred to as the “traditional” method, the wine is bottled and stopped with a metallic crown cap after the first fermentation of the base wines. Just before the bottle is capped, a little mixture of sugar and yeast is added to kick off a secondary fermentation—this adds the fizz and bubbles to the wine. After the secondary fermentation, the wine is left to rest, neck up, on the debris of the fermentation, or lees, which adds character and deeper flavor to the wine. The bottles are then periodically shaken, a term known as riddling, before the neck of the bottle, which now contains the lees, is frozen. Later, the frozen debris are popped out, and the bottle is topped up with a mixture known as the dosage, which is sweetened according to how sweet the winemaker wants the final blend. After that, a cork is attached and a wire muzzle is fitted.
Most Cava is made in Penedès and Catolonia in northeast Spain, where the wine can trace its origins back to the 1880s, when José Raventós, then head of Codorníu, produced a bottle of sparkling wine after a trip to France. He was soon joined by Pedro Ferrer of Freixenet. Principally, three white grapes are used in Cava’s production: Xarel-lo, the grape that provides weight and structure, Parellada and Macabeo. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are also used.
At Gramona, in Penedès, they add a little Chardonnay. On first sip, their wines are a revelation, taking on a nutty, biscuity complexity usually associated with Champagne. It might have taken 130 years, but on this evidence, it seems that some Cava producers have finally earned a place on the top table of sparkling wine.
Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304259304576377371659670328.html?mod=rss_Food_and_Drink
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