Spain’s Answer to Champagne: Cava! (A step up from Prosecco at a similar price)

Show Notes

Episode 121: Spain’s Answer to Champagne: Cava!  00:00

Hello! And welcome to The Wine Pair Podcast. I’m Joe, your sommelier of reasonably priced wine, and this is my wife and my wine pairing partner in crime, Carmela. And we are The Wine Pair! 

Ok, a quick orientation for those of you who may be new to the podcast - in each episode we learn about, taste and give our honest review of three wines that are reasonably priced - meaning under $20 each -  and should be easy for you to find. And our podcast is made for people who want to learn more about wine, find new wines to enjoy, and just want someone to talk about wine in a fun way that regular people can understand. So, if that sounds like you, you are in the right place! And we are proud to say that we are recommended by the editors of Decanter Magazine who call us fun, irreverent, chatty, and entertaining

We are just weeks away from our trip to Barcelona, Carmela, and when we are there, we are going to take a side trip to the town of Sant Sadurni d'Anoia. And do you know why we are taking a day trip to Sant Sadurni d'Anoia?

That’s right! Because we want to taste Cava in the place where Cava is from. We are soooooo excited!

And we have a place already on the books in Sant Sadurni d'Anoia called Recaredo where we are going to do a two hour winery tour and tasting. We can’t wait! It looks so cool, and the people we have contacted have been very nice and accommodating, so we’ll give you an update when we are back from our trip. 

So what is all the hubbub about Sant Sadurni d'Anoia anyway, you might ask? Let’s get into it. 

First, it is a small town of about 13,000 people about an hour away from Barcelona by train. And, it is the center of production for Cava. And, it is an old community. The first real historical records are from the year 1080, and so here is a little history lesson for you, in case you were wondering. The land was originally under the protection of the castle of Subirats which was built in 917 by the Count of Bareclona who was trying to win the land of the Penedes, which is the great wine growing region, from the Saracens (Muslims). Or something like that.

500 years later, in 1493, right around the time old Chris Columbus was sailing around,  it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Aragon in northeast Spain, and then in 1764 it became its own municipality. It then started producing Cava in around the 1880s. Like much of Europe during that time, it was hit by the phylloxera plague. Phylloxera, for those of you following along at home, was an aphid that devastated a lot of the wine crops in France and the surrounding countries, but the people of Sant Sadurni d'Anoia were able to successfully fend off the plague and really turned their production to Cava. 

Today, there are over 80 wineries making Cava in Sant Sadurni d'Anoia, and while that is a lot, there are a few like Freixenet that are huge, and few, like Recaredo which are much smaller. Because of this, Sant Sadurni d'Anoia is considered the Cava capital of Spain. And we’re going there!  And I have lots more information and links to articles  in our show notes if you come to our website and look for this episode. 

Cava is made in other areas of Spain, but the Penedes region and Sant Sadurni d'Anoia in particular, is considered the home or the origin of this amazing sparkling wine.

And even though I titled this episode Spain’s Answer to Champagne, Cava is not Champagne. We have not said this for a while, but remember, people, all Champagne is sparkling wine, but only sparkling wine made in the Champagne area of France is Champagne. So, while Cava is a sparkling wine, and it is made in the same way that Champagne is made, it is its own thing. 

If you learn one thing from this podcast - do not call sparkling wine Champagne unless it is from Champagne. Otherwise you’ll sound ignorant and uncouth. Which sucks. 

So in a little bit we are going to learn more about Cava, and we are going to taste and review three Cava wines from Spain . . . 

But first . . . we have to do our shameless plug.

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And, on that note, while you are emailing me, send us a note about a wine you like or a wine you are curious about that you want us to do an episode on, or send us a note and tell us what you like and don’t like about the podcast, or of there are wine making areas of the world you are curious about - and we’ll take care of it! We want to create content you care about, so let us know!

And, as we do every week, we’ll tell you someone we think you should tell about The Wine Pair Podcast. This week, we want you to tell anyone who loves sparkling wine and wants to try something made in the Champagne style but has the price point of Prosecco! Because that is what Cava is!

ARTICLES and LINKS

• https://www.recaredo.com/en/ 
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sant_Sadurn%C3%AD_d%27Anoia 
• https://www.turismesubirats.cat/en/make-culture/subirats-castle/ 
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_French_Wine_Blight 
• https://www.penedesturisme.cat/en/where-to-go/sant-sadurni-danoia#:~:text=Sant%20Sadurn%C3%AD%20d'Anoia%20is,been%20the%20town's%20main%20occupation. 
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cava_(Spanish_wine)#:~:text=The%20Pened%C3%A8s%20wine%20region%20where,Basque%20Country%2C%20Navarre%20and%20Valencia. 
• https://www.penedesturisme.cat/en/what-to-do/castle-subirats#:~:text=The%20Castle%20of%20Subirats%2C%20dating,defend%20and%20reconquer%20Penedesenque%20lands. 

Topic: WTF is Cava? 9:00

So, Carmela, you may ask what is Cava, and how is it similar to and different from Champagne? Well, first let’s start with the similarities.

• They are both sparkling wines. Did you know that? In fact, there was a time when Cava was marketed as Spanish champagne, but that is not allowed any more
• They are both related to place. What I mean by that is that only sparkling wines from the Champagne area of France can be called Champagne. And, similarly, although not quite as restrictive, Cava only comes from the DOs or designated areas of origin in Spain that are allowed to make it. The vast majority of Cava comes from the Penedes region in Catalonia, but Cava is allowed to come from a few different areas like Aragon, Castile and León, Navarre and Valencia and a few other places. 
• Cava is also made in the same way that Champagne is made. The simple way to describe it is that it is a sparkling wine that is fermented twice. The first fermentation takes place in a barrel or stainless steel, and the second fermentation takes place in the bottle. It is the second fermentation that gives the sparkle or bubbles to sparkling wine. I could go into a lot more detail than that, but there are lots of articles and videos and other stuff you can find online and in our show notes which will tell you more, so we’ll move on. I will say that Cava spends time on the less, which is the remnants of yeast and stuff, and is aged, so similar to Champagne, it will often have a bready or yeasty smell to it. 
• Cava is also bottled in similar bottles to Champagne, although they are sometimes a bit thinner at the bottom, and they are corked and caged so the cork doesn’t come flying and take your eye out, just like a Champagne bottle, and like most sparkling wine. 

So, what makes Cava different from Champagne you may ask, Carmela?

• First of all, it is generally a lot less expensive. You can get a very carefully crafted Cava and pay a fraction of the price that you would for a similarly made Champagne. So that’s nice.
• The grapes used in Cava are also different than those found in Champagne. Champagne’s main grapes are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. Cava’s main grapes are general Macabeao, Paralleda, and Xarello, although there are a few other grapes that are allowed. 
• As a result of this, there are some slight differences in taste profiles between the two. Champagne is often described as having citrus, apple, cream, almond, and toast or yeasty flavors and smells. Cava has some similarities, but the typical flavors are quince - which is something most people are not familiar with but it could be described as a tart, bitter apple - lime, yellow apple, chamomile - which is like an apple, honey, and flowery taste - and almond. 
• Cava also has different gradations than Champagne that indicate how long it has been aged. Champagne is always aged for at least 15 months, and vintage Champagnes are often aged from 4-10 years. The main differentiation, though, is in the Cru or growth, where Champagnes are designated by the vineyard they come from, with Grand Cru supposed to be the best. Cava on the other hand allows for different aging, and names the different aging methods
• Regular old Cava is 9 months on the lees, similar to Cremant
• Reserva Cava is 15 months on the lees, a bit longer than non-vintage Champagne
• Gran Reserva spends 30 months on the lees similar to vintage Champagne, and only comes in Brut styles - and, for sparkling wine, we have mentioned this before but Brut means dry, and a sparkling wine that is called dry is actually semi-sweet. 
• Cava Paraje Calificado spends 36 months on the lees and again only comes in Brut styles

Now, Champagne is a popular sparkling wine, but the most popular sparkling wine is Prosecco, so you may ask how does Cava compare to Prosecco, Carmela, especially since their price points are pretty close.  From a quality standpoint, the way in which Cava is made is more intensive, and I think it is a better wine. But that is a matter of opinion. Prosecco is also made with different grapes, and is not made in the classic Champagne style. I also find Prosecco to often be in the “Dry” range, which means again on the sweeter side, and Cava is often made in a Brut or Brut Nature style, which means that it has almost no residual sugar, and we just prefer that kind of sparkling. But if you like it sweeter, that is awesome, and we respect that fully!

But now I think it’s time to learn a little more about the specific wines we chose for this week’s episode. 

ARTICLES and LINKS

• https://winefolly.com/deep-dive/on-finding-great-cava-sparkling-wines/
• https://bolneywineestate.com/what-is-cava#:~:text=Like%20all%20wines%2C%20Cava%20is,Macabeu 
• https://winefolly.com/video/champagne-vs-cava-save-money-drink-better/ 

Cava  We Chose for This Episode 17:12

As usual, all of the wines we have chosen for this episode are under $20, and you should be able to find lots of good Cava at prices as low as $10 or $11. Now, these specific Cavas that we have today may not be quite as easy to find as some of those you find in your local grocery store, but you should be able to find them. But we bought all of these at a local wine shop in Seattle called Mad Wine Esquin. 

The first wine we are going to taste and review today is called Vins el Cep Kila Cava Brut Organic, and this one does come from Sant Sadurni D’Anoia which is super exciting! We may see the winery when we go to the town. 

As it says in the name, this wine is certified organic and vegan so this could be a great wine for you if that is important to you. I have seen a few different explanations of what is in the bottle in terms of grapes, so I am going to go with what comes from the distributor’s website and say it is 50% Xarel·lo 25% Macabeu 25% Parellada.

The winery says that they make the wine in the Methode Champenoise, as would be expected, that they hand harvest the grapes and they enter the cellar by gravity, which sounds very cool, and that each grape type and vineyard (because they get their grapes from different vineyards) are fermented separately in separate tanks before they are blended. Which sounds like a lot of work! They say they age for 24 months in the bottle, and that they aim to create an easy drinking but serious wine. Right up our alley. And although this is the 2020 vintage, they did receive 90 point ratings from Wine Enthusiast the two years prior. 

The next wine we are going to try is called Paul Cheneau Lady of Spain Cava Brut, and the bottle this wine comes in is a hoot. It is a bright yellow bottle with a modernist image of a Spanish woman, which is part of the reason I bought it. It just seemed like a fun bottle for a party. 

Like the previous wine, there were various versions of what the blend was, but I found 45% Macabeo, 40% Xarel-lo, 15% Parellada was the most consistent, and I do have a tech sheet for it, but from a retailer rather than the winery. This is a non-vintage wine, meaning they blend wine from various vintages which is very common in Champagne wines, too, by the way, and this wine is aged for 12 months in the bottle before releasing. It was not totally clear where the wine is from, but it is definitely from the Penedes region in Catalonia. 

The last wine we are going to try is called Miquel Pons Cava Brut, and like all of the wines, depending on the website, the reported blend varies which is quite frustrating, but the bottle we have has the blend on it, and they say it is 55% Xarel-lo 40% Macabeu, 5% Parellada. They also say the wine is vegan and the grapes are organic. They also say that the wine is aged for at least 15 months in the bottle. This is also the lowest alcohol wine at 11.5%, which is low for a Brut sparkling wine. 

From a research standpoint, this wine was the hardest to pin down, so it was good that there was information on the bottle itself. Again, I know the wine is from the Penedes region in Catalonia, and from what I can tell, it is located in a small town near Sant Sadurni D’Anoia called La Granada.

But, I think that is enough information - let’s get to drinking! We’ll take a quick break and be right back. And, if you have these wines or similar wines, drink along with us!


ARTICLES and LINKS

• https://www.jorgeordonezselections.com/single-wine.php?wineID=145 
• https://www2.vinesse.com/tastingnotes/outputinhouse/SKU19542.pdf 
• https://www.catalanwinesusa.com/wines/miquel-pons-brut-nature 

2020 Vins el Cep Kila Cava Brut Organic, Paul Cheneau Lady of Spain Cava Brut, Miquel Pons Cava Brut Wine Tasting, Pairing, and Review 23:14

Wine: Vins el Cep Kila Cava Brut Organic (Click here to learn more about this wine on wine.com. Affiliate link)
Region: Spain, Penedes (Sant Sadurni D’Anoia)
Year: 2020
Price: $13.99
Retailer: Mad Wine Esquin
Alcohol: 12%
Grapes: 50% Xarel·lo 25% Macabeu 25% Parellada

What we tasted and smelled in this Vins el Cep Kila Cava Brut Organic:

• On the nose: Toast, pear, dried apricot, raw almond, citrus, apple, cinnamon, baking spice, white flower
• In the mouth: Super dry, fresh, stone, citrus, apple, lime zest, good bitterness on the end

Food to pair with this Vins el Cep Kila Cava Brut Organic: A great food wine, spicy foods, ramen, Thai food, teriyaki, fish and chips, fried calamari, fried chicken, very versatile
 
As a reminder on our rating scale, we rate on a scale of 1-10, where 7 and above means that we would buy it, and 4 and below means that we are likely to pour it down the sink, and a 5 or 6 means we are likely to drink it and finish it, but we are probably not going to buy it. 

Vins el Cep Kila Cava Brut Organic Wine Rating: 

• Joe: 10/10
• Carmela: 9/10

A fantastic wine!

Wine: Paul Cheneau Lady of Spain Cava Brut
Region: Spain, Penedes
Year: NV
Price: $14.99
Retailer: Mad Wine Esquin
Alcohol: 12%
Grapes: 45% Macabeo, 40% Xarel-lo, 15% Parellada
Professional Rating: WE 88

What we tasted and smelled in this Paul Cheneau Lady of Spain Cava Brut:

• On the nose: Fruity, creamy, pear, red fruit, raspberry, sweet, orange creamsicle, honey, vanilla, baking spice
• In the mouth: Fruity, bitter, sweeter, honey, vanilla, creamy, peach, maple, baking spice, pear turnover, apple pastry. A bit of a Prosecco taste

Food to pair with this Paul Cheneau Lady of Spain Cava Brut: Appetizer or dessert wine, cheese board, cheese in puff pastry, cheese with jam bread, fried appetizers, apple pie, fruit and nuts

Paul Cheneau Lady of Spain Cava Brut Wine Rating: 

• Joe: 7/10
• Carmela: 7/10

Wine: Miquel Pons Cava Brut
Region: Spain, Penedes
Year: NV
Price: $15.99
Retailer: Mad Wine Esquin
Alcohol: 11.5%
Grapes: 55% Xarel-lo 40% Macabeu, 5% Parellada

What we tasted and smelled in this Miquel Pons Cava Brut:

• On the nose: Creamy, vanilla, red fruits, baking spices, pear, citrus, very effervescent 
• In the mouth: Classic Cava, bitter, bitter apple with lemon, tea, apple seed, oaked(?), vanilla, honey, stone

Food to pair with this Miquel Pons Cava Brut: White pizza, spicy food, fried foods   

Miquel Pons Cava Brut Wine Rating: 

• Joe: 8/10
• Carmela: 7/10

Which one of these are you finishing tonight?

• Carmela: Vins el Cep Kila Cava Brut Organic
• Joe: Vins el Cep Kila Cava Brut Organic

Taste profiles expected from Cava  38:17

• General 
  • Wine Folly: Quince, lime, yellow apple, chamomile, almond
  • WE: Aromas of apple skin fused with dry ­Mediterranean herbs such as thyme, rosemary and fennel, salty features, wrapped in dry, creamy textures, with a mineral base that suggests chalk or limestone.
• Vins el Cep Kila Cava Brut Organic
  • We Drink Bubbles: Aromas of fresh pear and honeysuckle are followed by notes of cooked-apple, pear, and a spicy hint of ginger. It is medium-bodied with a nice center palate and a flavorful, creamy finish.
  • Amsterdam Wine Co: Fresh and easy drinking Cava with notes of pear, apple and honeysuckle
• Paul Cheneau Lady of Spain Cava Brut
  • Winery: Pale color, translucent, with greenish tints, and with a steady effervescence and a formation of small bubbles which generate a gentle crown. Fine, delicate and very clean, with lightly toasted pastry notes and syrupy fruits. Fresh and fruity, well structured, crispy
  • WE: After melon, banana and spice aromas the palate takes over with citrus and mango flavors. Distinguished due to its solid mouthfeel and good natural carbonation. Pour on its own, with food or in a mimosa
• Miquel Pons Cava Brut
  • Winery: Fine and gentle bubbles. Persistent aromas of mature tropical fruits. Smooth flavors of brioche bread and almonds with a well-integrated and creamy sparkle.
  • K&L Wines: Crisp, clean, very refreshing with tasty fruit and a dry finish

Outro and how to find The Wine Pair Podcast 40:32

Ok, so, Carmela, it’s time for us to go, but before we do, we want to thank you very much for listening to us - and if you haven’t done so yet, now would be the perfect time to subscribe to our podcast and also a fantastic time to leave us a nice rating and review on our website or Apple podcasts or other podcast service - and it is an awesome and free way to support us and help us grow listeners.

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Alright, with that, we are going to sign off, so thanks again, and we will see you next time. And, as we say, life is short, so stop drinking shitty wine.

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