To see a review of any individual tasting, where available, please click on the tasting title.

INSTITUT DEL CAVA: Passion, diversity and the tang of twiglets – a story of Spanish bubbles

Are your everyday bubbles on the bland side? Is France failing to titillate the tongue? Have Aussie sparklers lost their edge. If so try Spain! Cava is fizzing back to life with a message of passion and diversity and looking for its share of the British market.

That was the message from a tasting attended late last year by Graham Harding. Hosted at Pembroke College by luminaries of the Spanish wine trade the tasting was led by Sally Easton MW. It featured a rapid fire tutored tasting of 19 cavas – ranging from the (relatively) cheap and cheerful to the very grand indeed – plus a chance to try any or all of another 50 odd wines accompanied by a seemingly endless supply of excellent tapas.

The tasting started with the fresh and zesty Freixenet Cordon Negro Brut (the UK market leader). Having established a baseline, we then tried four Brut Natur wines from a range of producers. With no added sugar these wines had a savoury, almost salty note – and one favourite wine for many of the tasters was the Juvé and Camps Reserva de la Familia 2002. Yeasty and savoury this wine had a higher percentage of Parellada to give added elegance to the mix – and a distinct tang of twiglets!

A number of producers include Chardonnay to pep up the traditional maix of Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel.lo and this gives greater fruitiness in the mouth. Two fine examples were the Anna de Codornniu Brut (£7.99 in the UK) and the Parxet Titiana Brut Natur (€9 ex bodega and represented in the UK by Moreno Wines) which had a note of white pear and grapefruit and an almost peppery yeastiness.

The last two flights of the tutored tasting covered Gran Reserva wines (all with 3-4 years ageing) and finally two remarkable long-aged wines. The star of these two flights was the Gramona Celler Batlle Gran Reserva Brut. A Xarel.lo dominated blend, it had 7 years ageing to give a remarkably complex nose dominated by nuts and crystallised fruit and a real sense of power and intensity.

For this taster at any rate, they were wines to complement food rather than for drinking on their own – and the salty delights of jamon and manchego proved the perfect foil. Do check them out next time you’re looking for bubbles.

GH: 20/1/07

Return to top of page