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 Cava, Cava- Plenty of Cava
Move over Champagne and Prosecco! Cava will be the flavour of the week in April when the registered delegates comprising journalists, bloggers, wine buyers and wine tourism operators, winery guides, Sommeliers, Masters of Wine, winery owners and tasting room managers will have an opportunity to visit some of the great Cava producers in and around Sant Sadurni d’Anoia, capital of Cava production near Barcelona. Produced generally from the indigenous grapes Parellada, Macabeo and Xarel.lo by the ‘Traditional Method’, the Spanish sparkling wine called Cava will be the star wine at IWINETC 2016.
50 Great Cavas
The organiser of the event is Wine Pleasures- a company run by Anthony Swift, an Englishman settled in Barcelona for decades. Known internationally for years of organising wine buyer-seller meets in different cities of Europe in comfortable surroundings, he started the IWINETC event which has become extremely popular internationally and one sees big numbers of wine tourism professionals- winery guides, Sommeliers, Masters of Wine, winery owners and tasting room managers who simply buy tickets to attend.
Wine Pleasures also organises an annual competition called 50 Great Cavas and subsequently brings out a publication 50 Great Cavas 2016 in conjunction with the Consejo Regulador del Cava. Results of the Competition were announced last month; 66 Cavas classified as Outstanding were awarded Gold medals and 33 Cavas classified as Highly Recommended were awarded Silver medals. Most of the medals were awarded to producers in the Penedès wine region (Catalonia) but several awards went to producers in Empordà, La Rioja & also Valencia where Cava is authorized to be produced.
 The delegates will be able to taste most of these Awards winning Cavas at the Conference and visit a few of the wineries including Agustí Torelló Mata (who I have visited and love their Kripta Gran Reserva Cava), Codorníu and Vallformosa have already confirmed visits to their wineries for the IWINETC delegates who opt to visit the wineries.
50 Great Cavas 2016- A Book for Christmas Gift
The official book is an illustrated 154 page full colour, collectable book containing Gold and Silver medal winners with photos and tasting notes for each winner. It is a sumptuous guide to discovering Spain’s most interesting and exciting Cava producers. You can learn about the history of Cava, the process of making Cava and study different styles as it focuses on successful regions and recognizes outstanding producers. A two page article on all of the participating wineries covering family history, winery philosophy, grape varieties, location and wine tourism options are also a part of the book which the sparkling wine connoisseurs would love.
The book is an interesting tool for those in the wine business or who love discovering great Cavas whether at home or in Barcelona, La Rioja or Valencia. The Book selling for under £13 ++ makes a great Christmas gift. It will also be available at the Conference to the delegates. For further details, you may write to info@winepleasures.com .
Visiting the 12 wine regions of Cataluña
Wines from Cataluña (Catalonia) include sparkling Cava, dry white wines and powerful reds, known as “black” wine. The grapes of the region include the Cava and white wine grapes of Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel.lo and the red wine grapes of Garnacha (Grenache), Monestrell (known as Mourvèdre in France) and Tempranillo.
Cataluña has 12 wine regions with their own appellations: Alella, Cataluña, Conca de Barberà, Costers del Segre, Empordà, Montsant,
Pla de Bages, Penedès, Priorat, Tarragona, Terra Alta and Cava. The last one is a unique appellation which is spread over several geographic areas though the main production center is part is in and around Sant Sadurni d’Anoia- about 50 kms west of Barcelona and considered the Cava Capital of Spain.
 The Catalan wine region includes ten Denominació d’Origen or Denominación de Origen (DO)-roughly equivalent to DOC in Italy, and one Denominació d’Origen Qualificada (DOQ) an appellation similar to DOCG – the Priorat. The general Cataluña DO is the biggest, generic appellation that covers the entire region for wines that do not fall under any other DO designation.
IWINETC 2016 will provide the opportunity to see and taste wines from the above wine regions of Cataluña.
Earlier editions
Every year a new country and region is chosen for the Conference. This makes the event unique and extremely interesting. The registrants get to visit a new region and the wineries and taste entirely different grape varieties, making it educational.
This year the venue for IWINETC was Champagne in April, which I participated in. Despite invitations from Wine Pleasures in the previous years, I had to regret due to pre-commitments. Previous venues in the recent years have been Champagne-France (2015), Tbilisi-Georgia (2014), Zagreb-Croatia (2013) Perugia- Italy (2012) and Porto-Portugal (2011).
For further information about this Conference or other programmes in future, please visit www.iwinetc.com or write to info@winepleasures.com
Subhash Arora |