Cava: time to update a complex designation??

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Cava: time to update a complex designation?? - 3/31/2024 1:00:10 PM

Dr.Cork

Posts: 17
Joined: 1/16/2021
Status: offline

I see this has been a subject of possibly many discussions going back 10 years.
https://www.cellartracker.com/forum/tm.asp?m=307070&mpage=1&key=cava񊽾

With the changes to DO Cava, maybe now is the time.
For instance, one of my clients created a new entry before I go to it. He did the best he could given the constraints.
I edited the wine profile.
See https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=4861078

This is a good example of the complexity of the Cava labeling.
The product is sold by Ramón Reula Family Winery, makers of the Pago Aylés wines. It should be under Ramón Reula Family Winery.
It's a Cava Reserva (18 mo min) from the Levante Zone of DO Cava, but sold from a winery in Aragon (!)
Despite physically being in the Valle del Ebro zone, the wine is made from 75% macabeo and 25% chardonnay from the Requena Zone (whose name seems to have been confirmed. It was temporarily the "Levante Zone").

So, here is how this wine should optimally be listed given what is presently possible with some minor additions:

Producer Ramón Reula Family Winery
Type White - Sparkling
Variety White Blend (75% macabeo and 25% chardonnay)
Designation Serendipia Brut Reserva
Country Spain
Region Requena
Sup-Region n/a
Appellation DO Cava

As a side note, there seems to have been an odd request to change Pago Aylés to pago aylés... That's obviously a bad idea.

Thanks.
Benoît

_______

CAVA info/references by the Consejo Regulador del Cava
https://www.cava.wine/documents/232/docava_interactiu_EN.pdf
https://www.cava.wine/en/origin-cava/4-zones/

Zones/Sub zones of Cava
1) Comtats de Barcelona
a) Valls d’Anoia-Foix
b) Serra de Mar
c) Conca del Gaià
c) Serra de Prades
e) Pla de Ponent
2) Ebro Valley
a) Alto Ebro
b) Valle del Cierzo
3) Viñedos de almendralejo
4) Requena

Types of Cava
Cavas de Guarda (9 mo ageing)
Cavas de Guarda Superior, a category that includes
Cavas Reserva (minimum 18 months of ageing),
Gran Reserva (minimum 30 months of ageing), and
Cavas de Paraje Calificado (from a specific area + minimum of 36 months of ageing)

Post #: 1

RE: Cava: time to update a complex designation?? - 4/1/2024 5:36:18 AM

andrew

Posts: 4166
Joined: 2/20/2005
Status: offline

Thanks for the post and for the edits on that particular wine. Cava is always going to be an issue because it is such a broad category with so many levels, not to mention the addition now of Corpinnat and Classic Penedès that the upper echelon have migrated too.

The types are well-handled by designation. That is our policy across all definitions like Reserva in pretty much all countries. Appellation information is limited to geography, though some do contain style components.

Cava is listed as region = Spain to capture that it can be made from grapes from a several regions.

I am loathe to add those sub-divisions of geography. Those are not PDO-level distinctions but ones created by the regional trade association(s). It has been my general policy not to use those. I made an exception for Corpinnat, though I probably shouldn't have. Honestly, that sub-regional information is so opaque and often limited to the back label, this will only cause massive confusion in our data. That is the main reason for my overall policy of only PDO-level or equivalent Appellations. IMO, the whole Cava fight is utterly stupid.

_____________________________

Andrew Hall

CellarTracker Editorial & Support Services

(in reply to Dr.Cork)

Post #: 2