Cava Versus Champers for New Years Eve

12/12/2007

A shortage of champagne this holiday season has allowed for another player in the alcohol beverage market.

Spain has produced an abundance of cava grapes this year and is cashing in on the need for bubbly this New Year’s Eve. The cava market is growing at a seven percent increase in Briton compared to champagne’s four per cent increase.

Director of the Institute of Cava Maria del Mar Torres says: “Cava has a second fermentation like champagne. The problem we have is to push it up-market. In the days of Franco, Spain didn’t export or import. When he died, Spain was a long way behind.”

Partiers can use the same premises used to choose wine when deciding on a cava. Says Torres: “The more aged, the more complex the cava will be. The reservas, aged for 15 months, and the gran reservas, aged for 30 months are worth drinking with food. Young, fresh ones are better for parties.”

How different is cava from champagne in taste? Will New Year’s Eve revellers be able to tell the difference? Expert cava tasters say it is less acidic because of the climate in which it is raised.