SPANISH SPARKLING WINE FROM CATALUÑA – BUT WE AIN’T TALKING CAVA!
Regular readers (thank you, you are much appreciated!) will know of my penchant for, and great interest in, the Sparkling Wines of Spain. Over the years Cork Talk has shared lots of bubbly bonhomie! Of course, when most of the sparkling wine consumers of the world think Spanish fizz, they think Cava. But nowadays, in fact over a few years now, it seems that particular bubble is bursting. It’s not at haemorrhaging level, yet, but I suspect it will be, and quite soon too!
You may remember an article I wrote a few years ago (archived here https://www.colinharknessonwine.com/first-published-costa-news-group-december-2012-2/#more-‘) about Pepe Raventos, a name synonymous with Cava since its inception, approaching 150 years ago, abandoning DO Cava! Pepe had apparently been discussing quality control with the Consejo Regulador, the ruling council, of the DO for some time, but getting nowhere. Drastic though it was, he decided to jump ship, with several commentators warning that it would be business suicide!
It wasn’t. His business is thriving, and neither was he the first to leave the DO, essentially for the same reason. Their common complaint was that there wasn’t a system in place where the cheap and nasty cava, priced at under 2€ and wholly unrepresentative of what cava is really all about, can be differentiated from the classy cava at approximately the 10€ and upwards price.
DO Cava at last took some notice (https://www.colinharknessonwine.com/cava-empire-strikes-back/#more-‘), but essentially, and in reality, when their plan came to fruition, they got it wrong. What they did was add an extra designation, the supposed pinnacle of the quality pyramid, where bodegas which satisfied their more stringent rules could be elevated to this top level. However some of the regulations failed to take into account those wineries that had always made excellent cava, but just not, for example, from one particular vineyard, as one of the new rules demanded. These bodegas were left therefore in the same position, in fact it could be argued that they were now in a worse situation!
There continued to be unrest, further representations to the Consejo Regulador were made, resulting in no concessions. Something had to be done – and it was. Corpinnat came into existence!
In 2018 news came of a new group, Corpinnat, which vowed to up the ante re the standard of Spanish Sparkling Wine, upholding the principles of fine wine making. Another set of rules was drawn up, agreed to by the six founding bodegas, which is now a 9 winery strong group, with famous, well respected names too: Gramona, Recaredo Llopart, Nadal, Sabaté I Coca, Torello, Can Feixes, Julia Bernet and Mas Candi.
There is a lengthy list of rules, which have to be satisfied should other bodegas think of joining – and there are ongoing discussions with wineries who are interested. Indeed, there is currently some discussion going on between DO Penedès and Corpinnat about the possibility of creating a whole new DO just for the Sparkling Wines of the Penedés area.
Perhaps the most important of the rules are: the minimum 18 months ‘en rima’, aging before disgorgement (this minimum in DO Cava is just 9 months), with further provision for sparkling wines to have been aged for over 30 months and for over 60 months; all members must be in the Penedès zone, thereby promoting the notion of a specific terroir; vineyards must be organic; all wines must be made on the premises of the bodega; the minimum price paid for grapes is set at 70cents/kilo, which is nearly double that in DO Cava; the date of disgorgement will be displayed on the back labels; manual harvesting; minimum of 75% of grapes harvested must be from land owned by the winery (or on long term lease); 90% of grapes must be indigenous varieties.
The above, compared with rules in cava production, are far more stringent, striving to ensure the best expression of Spanish Sparkling wine, to put it in its rightful place amongst the finest fizz of the world! The bodegas concerned are all highly respected with an enviable history of fine sparkling wine making. Great, so how does it all translate to the sparkling wine in your glass? Extremely well, is my view, having tasted three examples from two of the Corpinnat member bodegas, Torelló and Sabaté i Coca!
Please read next week’s Cork Talk for my thoughts on the Corpinnat Spanish Sparkling Wines I’ve tasted thus far. In short, they’re excellent, and if representative of what we can expect from this new Group, then I’ll certainly be looking for them in wine shops and in restaurants! Restaurateurs please note!
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