As much as I love wine, I also adore a solid mixed drink. There are days that call for a Bombay Sapphire and tonic with just a spurt of lime, while others call for a dry vodka martini with three olives, not two or four, but exactly three. Therefore, as we begin to wrap up our month long devotion to Spanish cava, all varying styles and types, it behooves me to mention some intriguing, and not so intriguing, cava mixed drink recipes we recently stumbled up in Las Buenas Companias: El Libro de los Cocktails de Cava by Jose Maria Gotarda. Given to us by the European Marketing Manager for Raventos i Blanc, Rosa Aguardo, this book was originally designed as a promotional tool for their wines. Although I was unclear how successful it was in marketing their cavas, I was crystal clear on the fact that Rosa preferred her cava pure, without any additional bells or whistles added. We, on the other hand, love to experiment with our cava, and of the 25 recipes compiled in the book, I’ve whittled the list down to the top five recipes I found interesting for one reason or another. So what you’ll find below is not only the recipe itself, but the hows and whys behind the creation of the drink.

Terciopelo Negro, Black Velvet

1/2 Guinness
1/2 Cava Brut

Ever been to an Irish bar and asked for a Black and Tan or Black Velvet? My first experience with a Black Velvet (Guinness and Woodpecker) left me speechless at 21 wondering the physics as to how they layered liquid on liquid. Thinking the Irish were mixed drink magicians, only later discovering that their passion for alcohol was more of an Olympic sport, I was humbly …

I assume that you’ve never paid attention to the top of your cava bottle before, typically tossing them in the garbage without a second thought, but if you have one lying around, take a peak at it. This may require you to remove the foil neatly decorating the bottle, but it’s worth it. What do you see?

If the winery takes that extra step in their cava production, you more than likely will see a little picture or logo on the top of the cap. Called a “placa” in Catalan, these little caps are notorious for magically disappearing at any cava festival throughout the Penedes. As you walk from stand to stand, you notice tiny hands slowly creep around your leg and up to the table where, SWIPE, what once held a shiny reflection on the table, now shows only the indentation of where the placa once stood. These little munchkins are masters at thievery, knowing full well that each placa are worth their weight in gold, as they are highly valued collector’s items.

Historically, metal caps were feebly secured onto a bottle of sparkling wine by only a string, but in nineteenth century, Adolphe Jacquesson, the French producer of Châlons-sur-Marne, came up with a brilliant idea. Recognizing that closures were often porous, incapable of creating a hermetically sealed bottle, Jacquesson sought a way to keep his wines from losing their original character and aroma. Whereby in 1844, he not only invented a plug that overlapped the circumference of the bottle opening, but also a specially designed machine that drove the plug into the neck of the bottle. Our man was clever!

First dilemma down, one to go! Having solved that …

Yesterday, we met with Raventos i Blanc, a winery who’s history and property is directly tied to Cava. I won’t reveal much about the winery, as we’re working on a bodega profile as we speak, but I will say that both their winery and their products are second to none in terms of quality. Currently, they elaborate approximately 12 wines, 4 of which are Cavas that range from a surprisingly complex and alive house wine to an old cava, which has seen just a touch of oak - a rarity in the world cava. And all of their Cavas fall into one of two categories, Brut or Brut Nature, which I’ll explain shortly. Rosa, the European Export Manager, explained to us that while they enjoy all types of Cavas, these two particular styles best represent the grape varietals they grow on their 90 hectare estate. Yesterday, we tasted three of their four Cavas, which I’ve tried on several occasions, and although I had my favorites, I was not only impressed with the overall quality of their Cavas, but also the thoughtful decisions made in creating them.

Now to the title of this post.

In cava, as in champagne, the styles of wine are ordered according to sweetness. Prior to 2nd fermentation, where the wines acquire there sparkle, they are completely dry and are so acidic that drinking them can at times be painful. It is only after the 2nd fermentation when the wines are given a dosage, a mixture of base wine and sugar, that the sweetness level of the wine is determined. For those of you, who aren’t familiar with the different styles of cava, allow …

For those of you just tuning in, last week, we asked you to participate in a Cava Wine Quiz! 13 questions were posed to those brave enough to press “T” for true and “F” for false. Tough, we know, but we enticed you into participating by offering a Free Catavino T-shirt. Did I mention, FREE? Thick and warm, it’s the perfect t-shirt to to drink cava in, re-gift to a friend, use as a wine glass cleaner…the possibilities are truly endless.

Today, Catavino promised to announce the grand winner of our Official Cava Wine Quiz, but strangely enough, we’ve drawn a tie. Of the handful of people who casted their votes, at least two answered 10 of the 13 questions accurately - keeping in mind that 2 of the 13 questions could have either been answered either True or False. Therefore, Catavino has decided to create the final and ultimate round of our Cava Quiz. We’re calling it: The Ultimate Cava Question!

Guess what? Anyone can participate! Even if you didn’t participate in the last quiz, you can now enter in this one. And to ensure a single, solitary winner, we’ve fashioned the game based on a number, similar to counting jellybeans in a jar! Even though I was always off by a couple thousand colorful beans, you can use your power of logic, intuition, and, well…Internet searching skills to find the right answer. Whoever gets closest to the correct answer, wins! Come on…give it a try! Put your answer in the comment section below!

The Ultimate Cava Question: In 2006, how many bottles of Cava were exported to the USA?

Bonus Points: In which month is 50% of all Cava sold?

And for those of you interested in the answer to our last …

Live in Cataluña for any length of time, and inevitably, you’ll experience a Calçotada. What’s a Calçotada? Well, I can tell you that it’s not a Catalan dance, a side-splitting headache, or a type of monster that hides under the bed and eats small children. Nope. It’s an enormous sweet onion festival!

Each year when the boughs of the almond trees are thick with delicate pink blossoms, the calçot season, lasting only six weeks, gets into full swing. Calçots (pronounced kalsot), a cross between leeks and spring onions, are considered as integral of an ingredient within the Catalan culture as is butifarra (Catalan sausage) and tomatoes spread over toasted baguette drizzled with olive oil and garlic. In appearance, they are quite similar to a thick green onion, but have a magnificent oniony sweetness that goes perfectly with the traditional rich and thick Romesco sauce, containing dried mild red pepper, ground almonds, roasted garlic and olive oil.

Culturally, its roots (no pun intended) trace back to a lowly little farmer named, Xat de Benaiges, who happened upon the calçot during the late nineteenth century in the region of Valles – located two hours southwest of Barcelona. Although we’re not sure exactly how Xat came to idea of tossing a handful of these spring onions onto the hot embers of roaring winter’s fire, but I’d like to believe that he was a gourmand at heart, rather than just hungry. With a glass of cava in hand, he took a long luxurious sip, placed the glass back onto the table and carefully, picked up the charred onion from the flames. Peeling back the first layer of black, sooty, skin, he took a bite, and swooned from pure ecstasy. Licking his charcoal covered fingers, he picked up the …

Years ago, while working as the assistant restaurant manager for the Nicollet Island Inn, a swanky hotel situated on an island in the heart of Minneapolis, I had a rather unique experience debating as to whether Freixenet was a Champagne or a Cava.

As three very inquisitive and rather bull-headed, business executives fondled the Cordon Negro bottle, their solitary female counterpart inquired in a high-pitched, squeaky voice, “So, what you’re saying that this wine isn’t Champagne.” 

“I’m afraid that it is not Champagne. They call it a Cava”, I replied, unable to get the image of her nibbling on a piece of cheese, rather than a steamy plate of Chicken Cordon Bleu, as her mousy voice continued to rattle in my ear.

“Well, is it a Cava because it has a black bottle?” she inquired with one eyebrow slowly slipping over the other in frail confusion.

At this point in my life, my knowledge of wine was rather rudimentary. I could tell you some very general facts about French and Californian wine, but Spain was a country I associated with horses, hot weather and dark, beautiful women. Beyond that, I was hopeless, except for one bit of trivia; Freixenet was Spain’s flagship sparkling wine called, Cava. Although similar to Champagne in its method of production, Cava wine is unique to Spain.

“No, from my understanding, the black bottle is merely a marketing tactic that is obviously quite effective, but it is called Cava because it was made in Spain and not France.”

“Yeah, well, why is that they call it Cava, if this is the only sparkling wine made in Spain that I’ve ever seen in the store or in a restaurant. Why not just call it Freixenet?!”

I distinctly remember feeling …

Yesterday, we traveled two hours due west by train to Villafranca del Penedes, where met with the regulating council of Cava in order to provide you the nitty gritty on what does and does not constitute a Cava wine. However, in light of our meeting, we quickly realized that Cava is not as simple of a definition as you might imagine, nor are the responsibilities of the regulating body as obvious as you might think. Therefore, rather than provide you with a long diatribe about Cava wine, we thought you might enjoy a little test to see how much you truly understand about Cava wine. The game is called (insert deep echoey voice followed by a sinister laugh), Fact or Fiction.

How to Play

We challenge you to answer each question below with either true or false in the comment box.

Example: T,T,T,F,F,T,F,T,F,T,F,T,T

Then, on Monday, December 17th, we will post the results of the contest, along with the winner. In the case of multiple winners, only one will be chosen at random.

Prize

The winner will receive a snazzy, new Catavino T-shirt!

True or False

1. Cava is a sparkling wine that must be aged for at least 1 year in bottle prior to being sold.
2. Cava uses the same method of production as Champagne.
3. Cava is produced a small specified region in Cataluna, first designated in 1966.
4. Cava can only be made from the white grape trinity: Parellada, Xarel.lo and Macabeo.
5. Cava producers recommend white fish, chicken, salads, fruit and nuts to pair with their Cavas, so as not to mask or diminish its elegant, crisp flavors.
6. The most popular Cava worldwide is a Cava Brut, containing anywhere between 0-15 grams of sugar per liter.
7. It is not the responsibility of the DO to promote Cava, …

Over the years, I’ve tried to accept that customer service is a very foreign concept here in Spain. Unless I’m shelling out hundreds, if not thousands, of Euros for a service, the likelihood of my getting someone to greet me with a smile (even if it’s hokey and completely disingenuous), listen to my concerns without being defensive, use problem solving skills, work in a quick and efficient manner, and generally place my needs as a customer before theirs as a provider, is as likely as my being able to recreate Michaelangelo in my apartment. And if you’ve seen my stick figures, you’ll know how improbable this truly is. So you’d think I’d be used to this, but unfortunately, I’m not.

Why can’t I let go? Why can’t I abide by the AA principle of learning to accept the things I cannot change? In short, because I feel like I can change the situation, even if that means a simple post on what good customer service means to me.

I bring this issue up today, because I had the unfortunate experience yesterday of talking to a representative of Castillo de Perelada, a large Cava producer in Villafranca de Penedes. While planning a visit to the area last week, not only to meet with the Denominacion de Origen, but to also visit wineries that we could potentially recommend to you, I made an effort to contact them.

So what did I do? I sent a few emails over the course of two weeks, giving them a full report as to who we are and why December is such an important month for Cava producers at Catavino. What did I receive from them…nothing! Plan 2: I jumped on their website and tried to search for a working telephone number. …

This month, we’re focusing on Cava with the intent of exploring a style of sparkling wine that often takes a backseat to Champagne during the holiday season. To me this fact is understandable, and for me personally, this isn’t indicative of something negative for Spain wine mainly because I’ve always loved the underdog. As a kid, I often found that when my local sports team was doing well I drifted off and paid less attention. Maybe, I’m just a fan of drama, or merely a masochist. But for me, the upward struggle from nothing, or the fight against an established norm, has always been appealing. Ask my parents. They’ll attest to my non-conformity, and probably, will go on to tell you stories I rather not admit to. Therefore, I have an affinity for Cava, as it is the soft spoken little guy. Even here in Spain, people often mention Cava as something that plays second fiddle to Champagne, and surprisingly enough, during the holidays with an abundance of value and quality right at their finger tips, many Spaniards still turn to their neighbor’s bubbles before pouring a Cava from their own country (this does not extend to any other substance in the Spanish culture mind you).

All month, we’ll be talking about Cava in one way or another, so I don’t need to talk any more about Cava’s history or quality of value, but I do want to mention its uniqueness and what this means to me in the context of the wine world as a whole. It seems everywhere you turn today, people are decrying “Parker” wines, oak monsters, over extraction, manipulation, and “sameness” in wines. I can’t open my Google reader containing over 50 wine blog feeds and …

Well, we could begin with the obvious, bubbles! Bubbles are fun. They’re playful. And they make every occasion just a touch more festive and cheerful. Each time you’re poured a glass of Cava, you can’t help but find yourself entranced by their journey from the bottom to the top of your flute, eager to escape and share their rather addictive aromas of toast, cream, almonds, green apple, peach, etc. etc. etc. Sigh, it’s nine-thirty in the morning and just by reminiscing on how wonderful this drink is, I’m tempted to pop a bottle and drink while writing. Fortunately, in the crowd that tends to read our blog, I would eagerly supported in my decision. Come to think of it, I see a future post in the making: Breakfast and Cava! Now, I’m thoroughly excited.

I digress, what else makes Cava so incredible? Maybe the fact that it originates in our little northeastern region of Catalonia, Spain, but it wasn’t until 1970 when the term Cava was officially adopted as the name for the Spanish sparkling wine made in the traditional Champagne method. The word Cava translates to “cellar” in Cataluna’s official language, Catalan - a language that we both should know living in the heart of the region, but don’t, as we are still struggling to pronounce our rolling Spanish “r” and “th” sounds without spitting on the person across from us. Historically, just west of us in a small town called Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, is where the first Cava wine was ever produced. Jose Raventos, the head of the Codorníu, pioneered this project after becoming enchanted with Champagne while visiting France in 1872. Fortunately, his timing couldn’t have been more perfect as Phylloxera just so happened to spread like wildfire throughout the region in …