Cava

There’s a shakeup happening in Spain around its sparkling wine, Cava. Spain began making sparkling wine in the late 1800’s after Spanish winemaker Josep Raventós, whose family had been making wine since 1497, visited Champagne and decided to adopt the classical method by adding a second fermentation in the bottle of his own wines. Fast forward to the 1970s and the Raventós family, still making wine, was involved in creating the official Cava DO, since the French weren’t too happy about Spain calling its sparkling wines Spanish Champagne. Today, the Raventós family, now 21st generation winemakers, are leading the charge again, only this time away from Cava. 
 
With the increase in Cava’s popularity in recent years, production of the wine has skyrocketed across Spain, and while there’s still good Cava to be found there’s lots more cheap, mass-produced Cava that’s not so good. The Raventós, family, making wine under the label Raventós i Blanc, saw this trend coming and about a decade ago decided to drop the Cava DO from its labels and go back to its roots making Spanish Sparkling wine. 
 
Their new wines reflect their long commitment to quality, with standards even tighter than Champagne and only using native Spanish grapes. So far, 18 other Spanish wineries have followed suit and are producing sparkling wine outside the Cava DO.