DO Cava

In Catalonia, DO Cava extends across various parts of Penedès, Anoia, Baix Llobregat, Camp de Tarragona, Conca de Barberà, Costers del Segre and Empordà.

Outside Catalonia, the Cava Region includes municipalities in various territories: Aragon, Castile and León, Extremadura, Navarre, the Basque Country, Rioja and the Valencian Country.

The wines are made mostly from a "trilogy" of native varieties: xarel·lo, macabeo and parellada, together with other more minor varieties, both native and of other origins. There are also rosé cavas, made from red grape varieties.

During the 19th century, at the height of Catalan viticulture's expansion, several families from Sant Sadurní d'Anoia began experimenting with making sparkling wine. Advances in microbiology by Louis Pasteur made it possible to trigger and control the wine's second fermentation, and the discovery of the cork stopper made it possible to keep the bubbles inside the bottle.

This production method, known as traditional or champenoise, is the main feature defining Cava. It consists of adding sugar and yeast inside the final bottle to a wine that is generally white, although rosés also exist. As the sugar is broken down by the yeast, carbon dioxide is released and retained inside the hermetically sealed bottle, dissolving in the wine. This naturally creates the characteristic prickle and mousse.

To complete this process and achieve good integration of the carbon dioxide, the Cava regulations require a minimum ageing time of nine months, extending to a minimum of thirty months for Gran Reserva cavas and exceeding ten years for the longest-aged ones.

When ageing is finished comes disgorging: the bottle is opened to remove the yeast that has settled as lees. The small loss of liquid caused by removing them is topped up before the bottle is resealed. If no sugar is added during this topping up, the result is a brut nature. If sugar is added, depending on the quantity we can speak of extra brut, brut, dry, off-dry or even sweet. The miracle is complete!

In 1986, when DO Cava was formalised, and in compliance with the European Union regulation for designations of origin requiring them to belong to a perfectly delimited "region", the "Cava Region" had to be drawn up. It basically corresponds to much of wine-growing Catalonia plus the other towns scattered across Spain where a producer already existed. Thus, although 95% of production is concentrated in Catalonia, some municipalities in Aragon, Castile and León, Extremadura, Navarre, the Basque Country, Rioja and the Valencian Country are also included.

The varieties, the personality

Cava is made basically from the xarel·lo, macabeo and parellada varieties, plus the scarce subirat parent. For rosés, the traditional varieties are trepat, grenache and monastrell. For some years the chardonnay and pinot noir varieties from Champagne have also been authorised; they have supporters, given their international prestige, and detractors, who maintain that it is the native varieties that have forged cava's character.