Page 78 - DiVin022017

festive mood
joie de vivre
Cava
I want sparkling wine, and right sparkling must it be! Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Franziska Lichtenberg stands in her shop surrounded by hundreds of bottles of cava. We are in Cavai- simo, which from the outside is an unassuming shop in the Pan- kow district of Berlin. You would never guess that it contains such an abundance of wines. The shop owner tells me passionately about “her” cavas, about how she se- lects each one individually, how she knows all the winegrowers and producers personally and how she regularly travels to Catalonia to meet them in their own setting. In the beginning, she and her hus- band had to raise public awareness a little in their part of northern Berlin. What is cava? Is it cheap Spanish rot-gut ? It took a while to convince Berliners of what a high-quality product it actually was. Today, the shop is doing well and is the rst port of call for a large selection of good cavas. Even professionals in the restau- rant trade look to Cavaisimo to supply their wines.
In addition to cava, the shop sells
His home town of Sant Sadurni D’Anoia is now the cava capital, with some 200 producers. It is produced according to very strict quality criteria (see infobox) and using only bottle fermentation.
In other words, it is produced by the traditional method, like cham- pagne and crémant in neighbour- ing France. This was why cava was also called champán or Catalonian xampán right up until 1986. Then, when Spain joined the EU, a new name had to be found, as France strictly guarded the name “cham- pagne” for its own wines. And so cava was born. Cava, means “cellar” in Spanish - and it is there that the ne sparkling wine matures in cool underground vaults. A cava must be “sur lie” for at least nine months, and there must be a pe- riod of at least a year between the grape harvest and the wine being released onto the market. A “Reserva” matures for 15 months, and a “Cava Gran Reserva” for at least 30 months. Since 1986, the “Denominacion de Origen”, DO Cava, has also been protected. With a genuine cava, a star is burnt into the cork.
Only 159 municipalities are ap- proved for the production of cava.
other Spanish wines and olive oil, and hosts regular events with tast- ing, tapas and plenty of informa- tion about the sparkling delights of Spanish cava.
Cava, champagne, champan and xampan.
In viticulture terms, cava is quite a new product. It was rst produced towards the end of the 19th cen- tury in the region around Barce- lona. According to legend, Josep Raventos Fatjo travelled from the Codorniu vineyard to Champagne in France, to discover the secrets of bottle fermentation.
Cava, means “cellar” in Spanish - and it is there that the ne sparkling wine matures
78