Cava

Cava

Frequently José Raventós is considered the inventor of the famous Spanish sparkling wine known as the Sant Sadurni d'Anoia in today DO Penedès in 1872 for the first time such a supposedly produced. The credit belongs to others but really. Because even in 1850 manufactured Antoni Comas Gali a sparkling wine. Other achievements gained Luis Justo y Villanueva (1834-1880), the laboratory director of the Agricultural Institute in Sant Isidre, who taught some of the producers of Champagne method. In 1872 were at a competition in Barcelona, ​​presented by three of his students sparkling wines. But the fact is that Jose Raventós as head of the now huge cava house Codorníu the first sparkling wine from the present standard varieties Parellada, Macabeo and Xarel-Lo produced, but only in 1879 that brought to market. At that time, the sparkling wine is named after its "big brother" - the French Champagne - Simple yet Xampàn (or Castilian Champaña) called. When it became clear the (then in 1986 took place) EU accession of Spain, had to seek legal reasons for a new name and was as follows. In Spain, a distinction between Cava and wine cellar, but both mean winery. While the winery is a simple, single-storey building, however, you put a Cava to underground. Sparkling wine is matured now while the lees best under cool temperatures and the winemakers have long called their products produced above ground and underground wine cellar-produced sparkling wine Cava. This resulted in the final designation.

Much more difficult is the EU requirement designed by the controlled source of a quality wine. Spain had to define the areas. The most important criterion was whether the communities involved had a sparkling wine tradition. In the opinion of critics, was not necessarily the quality in the foreground. The result was before 1992. A total of 159 communities were established, of which the majority in Catalonia . are A number of them also lies partly scattered in still wine regions such as Costa Brava Empordà, Calatayud, Campo de Borja, Cariñena, Costers del Segre, Navarra, Ribera del Guadina, Rioja, Tarragona and Utiel-Requena. About 90% of the Cavas come from the region of Catalonia and of these, 75% from Penedès. The regional area covers about 32,000 hectares. It may set to any area or community name on the bottle label, but it is only the name "Cava Denomination" allowed. For this reason, Cava is really no DO (Denomination of Origin), since it is indeed not a designation of origin (Origen = origin) is. The DO Penedes is only for still wines.

For white cavas varieties Parellada, Xarel-lo, Macabeo (Viura), are Subirat (Malvasia Riojana) approved, Chardonnay and since May 2007, Pinot Noir, as well as for Rosados ​​Monastrell and Garnacha Tinta. Codorníu set the early 1990s, against the vehement opposition of the great rival of Freixenet, the admission of Chardonnay. The production is mandatory for the Metodo tradicional, ie by Fermentation in the bottle . be A Cava has nine months on the lees mature (in a sense a Crianza ) And may come earlier than one year after the harvest in the trade. After 18 months of maturation, they are considered Reserve After 30 months as the Gran Reserva. The sweetness figures are similar to the global common names (see below Sparkling wine ). In the cork of a real baked cava is a star. Other sparkling wines (which are not allowed to call cava) are "Fermentación en Botella" (two months fermenting in the bottle, after the lees again filled into bottles, cork rectangle), "Grandes Envases" (tank fermentation, cork circle) and the mind first option "Gasificado Vino" (sparkling wine staggered; cork with triangle). Well-known producers are Albet i Noya Castellblanch, Castell d'Age, Castillo Perelada Codorníu , Freixenet , Jané Ventura , Jaume Serra, Marqués de Monistrol, Masia Bach Miguel Torres , Parxet, Pere Ventura, Pinord , Raïmat , Segura Viudas , Torelló, Vallformosa .