Oct 19: Spanish National Day was celebrated with the usual pomp and show on October 16 at the residence of Ambassador of Spain, H.E. Jose Ramon Barañano in magical ambience with plenty of gourmet food catered by The Park and excellent Spanish beer and Baronia wines from Rioja but the celebrations called for a sparkling wine and there was never-ending supply of Freixenet Cava and Gramona Gran Reserva 2013, soon to be labelled as Corpinnat, writes Subhash Arora
During the last decade or so, I have missed the Spanish Day only once and that too because there was a serpentine queue extending to the main road at the entry. This year it was very well organised and there was no such problem with 7-8 tables inside the bungalow manned by Indian and Spanish staff with a copy of the invitee list, handling the guests proficiently.
This National Day, attended by Mr. A. K. Sharma, Secretary to the Government of India (West) was also a special Day since the Prado Museum in Madrid storing priceless paintings from the great artistes and masters, is celebrating its 200th anniversary and there were several beautiful, high quality reproductions decorating the lawns.
The Spanish National Day, with all the lights and attractions, adds to the festivities in Delhi as it falls during Diwali season in India; lights make the beautiful lawn look even more green and the excellent spread of food and an opportunity to taste several Spanish wines makes it very attractive for wine lovers. Ambassador Barañano is an approachable diplomat and has warmth in his demeanour, aided by his beautiful and gracious wife Anna who is an excellent hostess and event organiser too. One gets to meet many old friends and make new ones. It was good to hear in his official Ambassadorial Address that the Cataluña issue is on the back burner, at least for a while, due to a Supreme Court ruling last Monday.
Cava and Corpinnat
Talking of Cataluña, it is also the birthplace and mother of DO Cava which makes around 340 million bottles and is the most exported wine-birthplace because 90-95% of Spanish Cava is produced in Sant Sadurni d’Anoia near Barcelona and the balance in parts like Aragon, Castile and León, Extremadura, La Rioja, Basque Country, Navarre and Valencia.
Freixenet (now owned by the German sparkling wine producer Henkell) makes the ubiquitous Cava which has been in India for almost 18 years and is currently imported by Aspri Spirits and Wines. There was also Gramona Gran Reserva Cava-soon to be labelled as Gramona Corpinnat. Gramona is one of the top producers of Cava in Spain and has now joined the break-away group of 9 producers who call their superior bubbly as Corpinnat (it implies heart of Catalonia) and are determined to take on champagne as the best bubbly- the different grapes and terroir notwithstanding.
The nine producers that make up the new association L’Associació d’Elaboradors i Viticultors Corpinnat (AVEC) are: Gramona, Llopart, Nadal, Recaredo, Sabaté i Coca, Torelló, Huguet-Can Freixes, Júlia Bernat and Mas Candí. This Association of Wine Producers and Growers Corpinnat (AVEC), was registered with the Catalan government in September 2017.
The principal reason for the break appears to be a refusal on the part of the DO to allow ‘Cava’ and ‘Corpinnat’ to appear on the same label, even though DO Penedes, one of the appellations of Cataluña has agreed to its use. These 9 produces want wines to be produced only in Penedès and not all over Spain. Corpinnat producers cannot use Cava or Gran Reserva (which was on the Gramona 2013 served today) on its label. To improve the image of Cava, the Association had even introduced the top-ended classification called Cava Paraje Calificado (CPC) in 2017 which will not able allowed to be used by Corpinnat producers.
Corpinnat was first formed back in 2015 by six Cava producers, Gramona, Llopart, Nadal, Recaredo, Sabaté i Coca and Torelló, with the aim of creating a stricter and terroir-driven Cava which received formal recognition by the Catalan government in 2017 and EU.
Requirements for Corpinnat
All grapes must be from DO Penedès with at least 75% from vineyards owned by the winery. Grapes bought must be at a minimum price of €0.70/ kilogram (average prices is about €0.40/kg).All grapes must be certified organic and hand harvested. 90% of the grapes used must be indigenous varieties: Xarel-lo, Parellada and Malvasia with the balance being Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Trepat. The vinification and bottling must be at the winery and ageing for at least 18 months (champagne calls for a total of 15 months).
The regulations rule out the top three producers of Cava- Codorniu (imported by VBev), Freixenet (importer: Aspri) and García Carrión, from labelling any of their wines as Corpinnat. Raventos i Blanc (premier producer earlier imported by Aspri) had left the Cava appellation already in 2012. For details, visit https://www.corpinnat.com/en/
Unlike France, Spain does not have a terroir focused classification system- even DO Cava is an indication of the process and small producers of quality wines throughout Spain have been requesting for change for several years. Bulk producers now buy cheap grapes from anywhere in the large geographically defined zone and label it DO Cava, making it very difficult for small, terroir-driven estates to differentiate themselves and compete with the big producers.
Over the last decade, several attempts have been made by smaller Cava producers to distinguish themselves from larger-volume productions and to elevate the category. As a response to these calls the Cava Regulatory Board created in 2017 a new category for single-estate sparkling wines: Cava Paraje Calificado (CPC).
Recently, the Cava Producers Association invited 6 consultants including Pedro Ballesteros MW , Sara Jane Evens MW and Fernando Mora MW and Tom Stevenson, a global expert on sparkling wines to suggest segmentation and zoning for Cava region. Hopefully, a solution may still be found to address the basic problem and get the Corpinnat producers back into the DO fold, letting them use DO Cava and Corpinnat at the same time.
Otherwise, you may be served both the Freixenet or Codorniu Cava and Gramona Corpinnat from Cataluña in future to celebrate the Spanish National Days.
delWine would like to felicitate the Ambassador and all our Spanish friends and hope we can get more Spanish wines into India.
For earlier related Articles, please visit:
Mundusvini 2018: An Unparalleled Tasting of Premium Cavas for Paraje Tasting @Mundusvini
Spain: National Day with a Difference for National Day 2017
First List of 12 Cava de Paraje vineyards Released for Paraje CPC
Cava de Paraje Calificado: Top Quality Certification for Cava for Paraje CPC
IWINETC 2016: Gramona Cava- Propelled to Top by Historical Accidents for Gramona
Subhash Arora
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