Earlier this year, Kathy and I attended a tasting of wines from La Mancha. Prior to the tasting for the media and trade, we attended a seminar about these wines from Spain. We were hoping to travel to  Spain one day and experience the vineyards, wineries, food and wines. We were excited when we were selected to be a part of the media group covering the 50 Great Cavas Tour.

I decided to learn a bit about Cava before landing in Barcelona. Unfortunately, one family member did not look at the sparkling wine favorably. She had Cavas while in Barcelona over ten years ago and did not like them. Given that length of time, I would think that Cavas, just like all wines in the world, have improved in the last decade. I read something else that was also disheartening. Italian Prosecco was ranked high and similar to Champagne. Cavas were not. It seemed to me that Cavas were like the economy class of sparkling wines. I’m hoping to learn otherwise.

Our media group is going to taste many Cavas while on tour. It doesn’t bother me that they are made from grape varieties other than Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Munier. Actually, I am looking forward to it. Some of the Cavas will be crafted with grape varieties such as Macabeo, Parellada amongst others including the traditional international varieties.

Cavas are made by the traditional method with a secondary fermentation in the bottle. We’ve been making wine for several years now, and never made a sparkling wine deliberately. I did forget to de-gas a wine before bottling it. When opened it had a nice touch of effervescence and was delicious.

Cavas have a range of dry to somewhat sweet. The driest are brut nature followed by extra brut and brut. Those are the ones I’m interested in trying. Kathy on the other hand likes some grams of sugar in her fizz. I will like the extra dry with between 12 and 20 grams of sugar per litre and the dry with between 17 and 35 grams. Kathy will like the semi-dry with between 30g and 50g and finally the sweet with over 50 grams of sugar per litre. Together we will be able to get a good understanding of Cavas.

Cavas should be served cold somewhere between 5ºC and 8ºC, around 45ºF. It will be interesting to see what type of glass Cava is served in. Flutes are coming under criticism. While at a Portland, Oregon restaurant I had a Cava that was served in a small O-type Riedel-like glass. That was a big mistake. There were no bubbles in the Cava at all; however, I did notice the effervescence in the mouth.

I did read with interest that Cavas are delicate and should be uncorked gently. I guess that takes out sabering the bottle. I always open sparkling wines of every type as gently as I can. I was challenged many years ago to open sparkling wines with as little or no sound as possible. “The more you hear when a bottle of sparkling wine is opened the more your sensations loose.” This advice was given at Schramsberg in Calistoga, California. I’ve have been able to open most sparkling wine bottles with just a little hiss sound.

Cheers,
Terry