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The DO Cava is increasingly focussing on mature, high-quality sparkling wines in order to achieve higher prices for the grapes. To this end, it wants to make the Cava de Guarda Superior category better known, especially on international markets. The top quality category is Cava de Guarda Superior de Paraje Calificado, which must come from specific vineyards, have a maximum yield of 48 hectolitres per hectare and a minimum ageing period of 36 months in the bottle. From 2025, all cavas in the Superior category must also come from organic production.
According to the regulatory authority Consejo Regulador del Cava, the average price for Cava grapes is 30 cents per kilogramme. This is one twentieth of what is paid for Champagne grapes (7 euros per kg) and significantly less than for Prosecco (1 euro per kg). Grapes from the sparkling wines of the Corpinnat association from Penedès are paid 80 cents per kg.
Pedro Ballesteros MW, the first Spanish Master of Wine, said at an event in December: "The grape prices for Cava are among the cheapest in the world. Producers earn 10,000 euros a year as a side job, and they do it for tradition or emotional reasons. But the next generation will no longer do this. It's simply not sustainable."
Despite good sales figures - from January to September 2023, they rose by 2.35 per cent overall, and by 7.65 per cent in the domestic market - Javier Pagés, President of the Consejo Regulador, wants to change the image of cava in order to move away from the image of a mass product: "We need to learn how to communicate about cava and be more proud and ambitious".
(al / Source: Harpers.co.uk)