Cava

The same method as champagne, a Spanish taste

Cava is a Spanish sparkling wine made in the same way as champagne, which is why it is also called Spanish champagne. Most bottles come from the Penedès province in Catalonia, although cava is not necessarily tied to a specific region: cava also comes from Girona and Rioja. The bottle usually contains three Catalan grapes, each with its own role. Parellada provides a creamy structure, xarel-lo gives the wine body, and macabeo adds fresh acidity. Other Spanish grapes are used for rosé cava, such as trepat, garnacha, and monastrell. Because of these Spanish grapes and the warm Mediterranean climate, cava tastes very different from champagne. The first bottle was made in 1872 by the Spaniard José Raventos, who wanted to match the French success in his own country.

The method is indeed the same. With the méthode traditionnelle, each bottle undergoes a second fermentation in the bottle with the help of yeast, producing the carbon dioxide. The wine then remains on the lees for at least nine months. The bottles are sealed with crown caps and turned little by little by hand or with a gyropalette until they are almost upside down and all the lees have collected in the neck. The neck of the bottle is then frozen: when the crown cap is removed, the pressure of the carbon dioxide pushes the plug of yeast out. A little sugar is added, depending on the wine's acidity, and the bottle is fitted with its cork and muselet, the wire cage. If the cava has spent eighteen months on the lees, reserva may appear on the label; after thirty months, gran reserva.