Posted: December 12, 2008

Catalonia’s Cava

The perfect ending to 2008

By Cathie Beck—The Wine Wench

At a swank Barcelona restaurant in Spain an extraordinarily handsome man walked up to our table. He was the sommelier and was VERY Flamenco-guitar-player looking. Since it was about $125-a-person to eat there, I wanted some extraordinary food and wine was depending upon his oh-so-extraordinary knowledge (and Spanish good looks) to steer us right. But when I asked whether the wines on his list were local, from, say, a boutique vineyard — where the operation is so small the wine never makes it to the U.S. — well, every time I asked him a question, he simply pointed to the wine list. It occurred to me that perhaps he was mute. So I asked him how to pronounce "Valdemar Rioja Crianza Temprenillo" (from the list). Turns out, he wasn't mute at all. He also didn't have a lick of Spanish in him. He was from Ft. Worth, Texas and had an East Texas accent to prove it — thick enough to put George W. to shame. The point, I guess, is to not judge a book and all that. The other point is that — for the first time in my life — I ended up ordering Cava, Spain's version of champagne. I had four different types of Cava throughout the meal, which is weird in that I don’t really like Champagne — but our Dubya-double insisted I would. He was right. Cava is a very respectable alternative to French Champagne, and offers more bang for your buck (or your Euro). Produced primarily in northern Spain’s Catalonia region, over two hundred million bottles are produced every year for both domestic consumption and export. Like Champagne, Cava comes in different degrees of sweetness. Unlike Champagne, some critics consider Cava a good "starter" wine, to be sipped at the start of the meal. Cava’s also considered (as the Barcelona-Texas sommelier pointed out) a good wine to enjoy throughout a meal — the degree of sweetness and the temperament of the dishes being served, notwithstanding. The grapes most often used to make Cava include macabeo, xarello and parellada, all grapes that produce a crisp, fruity and light white wine. Over 250 Cava producers fall into the "defined Cava region" of Spain and are, therefore, able to use the distinct Cava designation on their labels. Which brings us to two things worth knowing: Cava doesn’t store well, and beware the "Cava knock-offs." Genuine Cava comes with a clearly marked cork with a four-pointed star emblazoned it. Cava does not improve over time and deteriorates with age, so the word is: Buy it, store it upright in a cool place and drink as soon as possible — the same week of purchase is generally recommended. And that’s how I came to drink four different Spanish Champagnes with six different food pairings — poured by an Amarillo oil rigger-turned sommelier — who knew exactly what the heck he was talking about. Dave Anderson at Apple Jack Liquors in Wheat Ridge recommends these Cavas Esteve Nadal Brut Cava Avinyo, $14.99 Marques de Gelida Brut Exclsive Reserva, $13.99 Gran Sarao Brut Cava, $9.99 Jennifer at Denver’s City Wine recommends Cava Brut: 1 + 1 = 3. "This is my favorite. Crisp fruit, very nice sparkler at $15.99." Segura Viudas Brut Reserva at $9.99. "Very nice fruit and a little creamier than the former." Word o’ the Week: Coupage (coo PAJ) Cava is usually made by the "coupage" method, meaning grape juices are subjected to a first fermentation and then mixed until the blend is consistent for the wine to be produced. The good news is that the process guarantees a particular Cava brand to be the same from year to year. It also means that most Cava does not have a year on the bottle, as the "must" (grape juice) is often from different years. One Winning Wine Tasting L’Atelier: An American Christmas Wine Dinner On Thursday, December 18, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., L’Atelier Restaurant in Boulder will host "An American Christmas Wine Dinner." The event combines L’Atelier’s Chef Radek’s talents with Sullivan Wines and includes a 5-course meal and wines with each course. Cost is $59, not including tax or gratuity and reservations are required. Call 303.442.7233 for further information. Coming December 26: Is high-end out? The economic meltdown seems to have brought dime-store-like spending back in vogue. The trend in "wine drinking stemware," seems to be cheap wine drinking paraphernalia, particularly glassware. On a recent upscale restaurant television show, the expert displayed any number of $2 and $3 wine glasses he promises bring out the best in any Burgundy or Bordeaux. Furthermore, instead of an artistic and pricey Riedel wine carafe, he admitted that he used a glass vase to decant wine! We’re going to see if we can’t soften some of the Christmas credit card "hangover" by learning where and how to purchase "less ostentatious" wine-drinking accoutrements.

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