Cava’s ‘Affordable’ Typecasting Is Officially Out of Date

No longer a cheap alternative to Champagne, Cava producers are leveling up with high-quality, long-aged bottlings made from organically-grown grapes.

📷Image Courtesy of Elaine Chukan Brown
By Elaine Chukan Brown
Wine Enthusiast Writer at Large and reviewer of wines from California (Napa) & Northeast Spain (Aragon, Castilla-La Mancha, Catalunya, La Rioja, Madrid, Navarra, País Vasco)

Cava That Isn’t Cava Anymore

With the expanse of the Cava D.O., a handful of Penedès’ bubbly producers decided to take a more niche focus to celebrate vineyards in their own backyards and separated themselves from the governing body. As of July, sixteen of these makers now label their wines Corpinnat rather than Cava. These wineries, which include Llopart, Can Feixes, and Pardas, are still making the same sparkling wine with the hallmark varieties (with a stronger emphasis on indigenous varieties) in the same traditional method, with a focus on smaller volume batches, organic farming, harvesting grapes by hand, making the wine entirely on the estate, and relying on extended aging in bottle before release.

You can find such quality from wines still called Cava as well, but Corpinnat wines are also worth seeking out. And we will likely keep seeing more Spanish sparklers not named Cavas in the United States moving forward.

Spanish Sparklers That Aren’t Cava

Some of Spain’s most sought-after examples of sparkling wine can be found from producers still using traditional method and indigenous varieties without using the name Cava. The members-only group Corpinnat is only one version of sparkling wine found in Spain besides Cava. Some producers name their traditional method wines Cremat, while others just stick to calling it sparkling wine.

Llopart 2021 Brut Reserva Rosé Sparkling

91 Points

A deep rose gold color swirls in the glass carrying aromas and flavors of strawberry leaf and cream, sprinkled with sea salt. A fine bead, almost creamy mousse adds enticement. — E.C.B.