NB.: Any prices, vintage ratings and drinkability expressed are those current at the time this article was published, and may have changed in the meantime. This article is Copyright ©

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JR's notes:

This article formed part of a series for the Spanish Supplement in WINE magazine in October, 1998. See also THE GOOD, THE BAD AND LA MANCHA, and RETURNING TO ITS ROOTS (Penedès), both published at the same time. The WINE magazine website is at www.wilmington.co.uk

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CAVA - Booming Amongst the Bubblies

Three factors have propelled Cava to its dominant position in the wine- merchant's shelves: in the UK alone, we drank a million bottles more in 1997 than we did in 1996. John Radford looks at the reasons behind the Cava boom.

Price plays a major part, of course. Every supermarket now has its own-brand Cava - usually cunningly-priced at £4.99 - and this has encouraged people who might not normally take an interest in sparkling wine to experiment. That's partly where the extra million bottles went, and that's why although the market for sparkling wines in the UK grew by only 1% last year, the market for Cava grew by 15%.

Quality-control is the second most important factor. When the early Cava pioneers bit the bullet and invested millions in their brand-new wineries in the last century they had already realised that if they wanted to succeed they had to be consistent. Originally, this meant 'big' but, of course, much has changed in winemaking technology since then.

The third factor, however, is probably the one which has made the big difference in the final years of the twentieth century, and it's also the simplest: grape selection. I don't want to get into the argument about Chardonnay in Cava here. Let's just say it's been grown in Catalunya - where most of the Cava comes from - ever since the early days, and some houses turn out excellent examples. However, these are in the minority, and most white Cava is made from the 'big three' native Catalan varieties: Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel.lo. Cava Rosé (to use the Catalan word) is made from Monastrell and Garnacha. It didn't take long to learn the lessons of earlier picking to retain acidity, insisting on cleaner, healthier grapes and paying a premium for them, and sourcing the very best grapes from the higher vineyard areas - typically above 500 metres beside the valley of the river Anoia in the province of Barcelona. The worst offender was usually the Xarel.lo, the grape which gives power and weight to the mix. Its style was often criticised as 'earthy', 'rooty' or 'bucolic' but iron discipline in the vineyards and - sometimes - tears on the weighbridge eventually drove the message home.

This new cleanliness and freshness in the young wines then laid open the way to for older Cava. By law, the wine must rest on its lees for nine months before degüelle (disgorgement) although most mainstream wines will enjoy at least a year and probably more. Cava with 30 months on its lees may be called Gran Reserva but, in the past, these wines had been too heavy to start with. Now, at last Cava could show what it could do with the prospect of clean, vigorous young wines with real ageing potential.

And what has it done? Well good, even great Cava is no longer the sole property of the 'big two' houses - Codorníu and Freixenet - although they have moved with the times. Codorníu's flagship Jaume Codorníu and 1551 are still two of the finest wines on the market. Freixenet's Reserva Real was the first to show what ten years on the lees could do for an outstanding original cuvée, and they have broken new ground with the experimental Xarel.lo/Monastrell, a white grape/black grape mix using genuine Cava varieties, which is starting to show well. Codorníu's offshoot Raïmat still turns out the best Champagne- wannabe - gran brut made from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay - and a personal favourite is Aria from Segura Viudas, a subsidiary of Freixenet.

Choice has widened even further amongst the smaller, independent houses. One of the most successful is Agusti Torelli all of whose wines are exemplary, including the fabulous Kripta in a beguiling amphora-shaped bottle which you can't put down. It's very good indeed, though not, perhaps, worth the mind-boggling price. Juve i Camps is possibly the best of the older-established houses with Reserva de la Familia and Gran Juve i Camps both proudly gran reserva and justifiably proud of it. Others to watch for include Castillo Perelada (Gran Claustro); Castel de Vilarnau (brut gran reserva); Lavernoya (Lacrima Bacchus); Alsina i Sardá; Gramona (Imperial and Celler Battle); Joan Raventós Rosell; Marqués de Monistrol (brut); Rovellats (Masía S. XV); and Vallformosa (brut vintage). The only non-Catalan Cava which can hold its head up in this company is probably Bonaval from Bodegas InViOSA in Extremadura, which is made from Macabeo.

This is by no means a comprehensive list, but it does show how much has been achieved and how much work is being done in Cava houses throughout Spain. From an export point of view Cava is now the world's second-favourite sparkling wine. Do you remember the saga of Hertz and Avis?

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