Hello,
So I’ve never been a huge fan. I’ve tried some mid-range cava that was supposed to good. However, I’ve found it all either boring or just too acidic and screeching. All the best producers seen to only make low or zero dosage Cavas. I’m a fan of stuff like Bolly and the Heidsiecks, champagnes that have a relatively high dosage. Any Cavas out there that are a bit more fuller bodied with more dosage? Thanks in advance?
Did you try Pere Mata yet?
Avinyo?
Raventos i Blanc Cava de la Finca. Not technically a Cava anymore though…
Last one I had was 2014 but it was enjoyable.
I’m a fan of Raventos I Blanc
Eric,
I think the better question is “Does Cava align with my palate?” and only you can answer that. Cava has never been better than it is these days……so the answer to your posted question is a resounding “No!”.
Raventos does some nice stuff. I’m not sure about dosage, but ripeness has so much to do with how well integrated acidity is that I’m not sure dosage matters on its own.
The best I’ve had were very long-aged bottles from Gramona. They were very interesting, even in a blind lineup of mostly high end Champagnes. They’re also very expensive.
These days, I’m much more likely to reach for a Cremant or a good Prosecco than a Cava.
I’ve tried the entry level Pere Mata and I found it closer to my palate. I don’t think I’ve tried an Avinyo yet. Thanks!
Its very possible that few Cava would align with my palate. I like trying and finding new wines, so I figured I would see what the brain trust here thinks. Admittedly, the Subject line of my post was a tad overwrought, but I wanted to see what people thought. Thanks!
I’m with you I’m not digging Cava. It just hasn’t scratched the itch I want it to and as it warms up, I’ve never enjoyed the tennis ball/vinyl shower curtain flavors that come from it.
I’d honestly say to focus more on Cremant de Jura or TrentoDOC for traditional method aged bubbles at more affordable prices. I’ve seen Franciacorta get thrown in with that, but many I’ve come across are close enough in price to enough Grower or Small Negociant bubbles that I go for the full thing.
These and, as others mentioned, Raventos.
Wow! That tennis ball/vinyl shower curtain scent is exactly what turns me off of certain Proseccos! Thanks for saying in so few works what I’ve always struggle to describe!
It took me years to finally figure out what the smell actually was that I related to in my life! When I played tennis, I didn’t mind the new tennis ball smell. I just don’t want it in my wine!
I’m a big fan of Pere Mata. The reservas are only a few dollars more than the entry level cavas, and they age well. And you can purchase them from Robert Panzer.
Cheers,
Hal
Recaredo (which is now designated Corpinnat rather than Cava) is fantastic throughout the whole lineup. The Turo de En Mota at the top end of the lineup being quite spectacular.
I’ll say as some others have here possibly Gramona or Pere Mata may be more to your liking. I do think that overall that most cava’s won’t appeal to you based on your prior comments and some of these Cava’s will require seeking out. Otherwise I’d refer refer you to Franciacorta but I haven’t found much value in the wines at most of their price points. Which kind of brings things back to good ol champagne:)
Colet Navazos which uses px sherry for dosage speaks to bolly and heidsieck. It’s unusual and quite good.
Whether it’s “all” bad or not depends on your expectation, but the question is kind of like asking whether all Bordeaux blends are bad. Cava is a little weird because it’s not a contiguous region, but a collection of areas, mostly in Penedés around the town of San Sadurní. But there are several subzones.
You might want to look at the wines you’ve tried and then find which categories you like or dislike most. The basic level of Cava is aged in the bottle for 9 months. But Cava follows the same categories as other Spanish wines. The Reserva is aged for 18 months now, and the Gran Reserva for 30 months, and then there’s the Cava de Paraje Calificado, which is aged for 36 months and which comes from specific sites.
Then there are seven levels of sweetness, ranging from Brut Nature, with no more than 0.3 g/l of sugar, all the way up to Semi-Seco and then Dulce, which can have over 50 g/l of sugar.
And finally you have the various grapes. The most widely planted is Macabeo, known as Viura in Rioja. It can be a grape that you either love or hate. When made as a still wine, it often has a bitter finish and it isn’t severely acidic. It’s a fairly old grape, dating back some 500 years or more.
Xarel·lo is quite different, with higher acidity and interestingly in spite of very light and thin skin, a good amount of resveratrol, more commonly associated with red grapes. It can make an excellent still wine.
The third “traditional” grape is Parellada, which makes the least interesting still wine and has no particular exciting features IMO. Most Cava is a blend of these three grapes. My suspicion is that the shower curtain notes probably come from one of these, likely Macabeo, which has the most “different” flavors.
But there are other grapes used as well. In Champagne, they would use Chardonnay, which can have a high sugar content and is therefore harvested early, even before it’s completely ripe. That gives the characteristic green apple notes to Champagne and can also bring those to Cava. Malvasia is often used for the sweeter Cavas.
Even more interesting are the red or rosado Cavas, made from Garnacha, Monastrell, Pinot Noir, and also a grape called Trepat. I happen to have a 100% Trepat from a small producer and it’s an interesting and very good wine, quite different from what you may think of as Cava.
So is “all” Cava bad? Well, if you have 9 grapes, seven sweetness levels, four aging categories, that gives you 252 possibilities right there. And then you add the winemaking decisions like what percentage of what grapes to use, the harvest dates, the specific sites, the winemaking itself, e.g. battonage, etc., and the possibilities become difficult to comprehend. The problem is that in the US, a lot of Cava is brought in by the two biggest producers and it’s sold cheaply. Then there are a few higher end Cavas available. But there are literally hundreds of small-production Cavas that are rarely found outside of Spain.
And while I’m not a huge fan of most sparkling wine, IMHO, no, it’s not all bad. Some is in fact quite good. 
Jorge and Carnes have been singing the praises of Raventos to me for a while now, so I definitely need to get some and give it a go.
Might want to check out the Pere Mata from Panzer as well
So, the problem with cava is there is very few limitations on how to make it, and here (in Catalonia) I can buy cava for less than 2€. Because of this, it is quickly losing reputation and some cellars decided to create the Corpinnat, which is a guarantee of good practices (you can read on the the website: manual harvest, everything organic, min 18 months ageing, etc…). But there is still some cavas worth buying, like Mestres. Please try to get a bottle of Mestres like Visol (only wine, first brut nature cava) with 60 months on the bottle before degorging and here for arround 22€ or if you can find Mas Via (1 year on oak barrels + 140 months before degorging).
I have had so many good Cavas from top producers that I feel that the OP just wouldn’t like any no matter how well made and there are many well made ones. Some of the best ones never make it here, but when in Spain, try the top ones.