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The cava motorway
Cava is under construction. The famous appellation has gone from losing some of its best members to announcing a series of changes that few would have imagined just a few years ago. But here they are, on the verge of completing the great work of restructuring the sparkling wine with second fermentation in the bottle, and with wineries that have occupied the highest points of the pyramid to lead the way for premium Cava.
Rumour has it that Cava would not have gone for the change without the departure of the Corpinnat members. No doubt that is the least of it, because the important thing is not why it comes, but what comes and when.
The changes in Cava in recent years, which have practically culminated to date, are important and substantial. The first was conceived four years ago. We are talking about the creation of a premium category for sparkling wines from specific settings in order to give value to the environment and differentiate the most valuable sparkling wines. Cava de Paraje was born with the aim of satisfying the wineries that are more focused on quality and price, and also to promote the concept of origin.
This special category established a specific territorial unit, literally for the plots located around the winery or its pressing centre, as well as a series of ageing requirements, vintage concept and other specifications aimed at guaranteeing that the resulting product would be of good quality and distinction.
Unfortunately, this 2016 initiative was not enough to sustain the dissatisfied and in just a year and a half the creation of Corpinnat was announced and the consequent departure of several important producers that we are all familiar with.
Responding to the demand for an origin - zoning
However, one of the great challenges for Cava remained intact: linking such a large and disparate D.O. to a specific origin, as never before had a Denominación de Origen been so loosely linked to an origin as was the case with Cava. The great novelty has arrived, the zoning of Cava, and with it a new exciting project has begun. This zoning makes it possible to distinguish its origin in four levels, the generic Cava, which is the one that was already in force, the one that links it to a more precise origin: Comtats de Barcelona, Valle de Ebro, Viñedos de Almendralejo and the Zona de Levante, whose name is only provisional. But not only that, but in certain sub-zones we can find sub-levels of origin, as in the case of Comtats de Barcelona where we can find up to five different sub-zones (Serra de Mar, Valls D'Anoia - Foix, Conca del Gaià, Serra de Prades and Pla de Ponent). Another of the areas that, due to its size, will also have a zonal subdivision will be the Valle del Ebro, where we can find the Alto Ebro for the sparkling wines concentrated in the vicinity of Logroño, and the Valle del Cierzo for the production areas near Zaragoza. The pinnacle of local and specific would be the Paraje cavas, a smaller and much more specific territorial unit.
This fragmentation of the production areas could be exciting as the wineries will have to find an argument and a style that defines their environment. The question will be, will the producers be able to give their Cavas an area identity and will there be a clear and unequivocal differentiation of the sub-areas created?
Among the numerous changes approved by the Cava Regulatory Board is the differentiation of the ageing by Cava de Guarda and Cava de Guarda Premium. The latter will include Reservas, Grandes Reservas and Cavas de Paraje. Beyond the limitations of ageing times, production, etc. that each category imposes, the concept of 'guard' generates confusion, as it does not refer to its capacity to age in the bottle, i.e. the time you could keep it at home before uncorking it, but to the time it has aged in the cellar. If someone thinks of "storing" a young Cava for a long time, he or she may find a wine in a state of decay and therefore the experience will not be pleasant.
100% complete winemaking, an intermediate step but not definitive
As a finishing touch to all these announced changes, Cava has announced the creation of the Elaborador Integral seal, to differentiate producers who make cava in its entirety from the pressing of the grapes to the rest of the process. It is a pity that this seal also includes the distinction of those wineries that only work with their own vineyards, a subject that has surely been on the table and that in the end has not been decided.
The Cava motorway is ready, now all that remains is for the cars that start to drive along it to have the strength and speed that is expected, only then will the great change be completed. Time will tell if this great work of Cava has the expected repercussion and if at last a more solid, exportable and stratified image of quality is built. For the moment, what can be seen is appealing.
