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Vilarnau Cavas – Always a Pleasure for an Eye, and Now Organic Too
Here we go – I’m following up a post about Cava with another post about Cava.
Oh well…
It is really appropriate to drink bubbles every day. Really. And it is even triple appropriate to drink bubbles around holidays. And gift them. And every day has something worthy of a celebration. So yeah, let’s talk again about Cava.
First, a pleasure for an eye – take a look – aren’t these bottles gorgeous? I would certainly use them as a decoration if the content wouldn’t be so good. I love this Trencadis design of the bottles – “Trencadís” is a kind of mosaic that is created from tiny fragments of broken ceramic tiles, used by Catalan architects Antoni GaudÍ and Josep MarÍa Pujol in many of their designs. I talked about the trencadís extensively in a few of the older posts (in 2017 and 2018), so I would like to direct you there if you want to learn more.
Now, you still have a ground for complaint – I already talked about Vilarnau Cavas less than 6 months ago – what gives? Are there not enough wines to discuss?
Yes, you are right. Or, almost right, to be more precise. The reason to talk about Vilarnau now is a significant change – all of the Vilarnau wines are now made with organic grapes.
Why would winery change its [successful] ways to become organic? What can be a motivation for that? Is that organic wine any different from non-organic wine? I decided to ask all these questions (virtually) Eva Plazas, Cavas Vilarnau Winemaker – and here is our short dialog:
2. Why is using organic grapes important for you?
3. Can you taste the difference?
4. Is the whole range of Vilarnau Cavas already using organic grapes (talking about new vintages)?
5. Did you have to make any changes in the winemaking process since you started using the organic grapes?
I have stopped using these products or have looked for alternatives to proteins with the animal origin, using pea or potato proteins instead, that is why all Vilarnau cavas are now Vegan too.
NV Vilarnau Brut Reserva Cava DO (11.5% ABV, $14.99, 50% Macabeo, 35% Parellada, 15% Xarel Lo, 15+ months in the bottle)
Light gold
Herbal, earthy, apple, lemon
Fresh, clean, apples, creamy, good body
7+, perfect for every day
NV Vilarnau Brut Reserva Rosé Cava DO (12% ABV, $15.99, 85% Garnacha, 15% Pinot Noir, 15+ months in the bottle)
Salmon pink
Fresh strawberries, a touch of gunflint
Fresh strawberries, crisp, clean, energetic, delicious.
8, excellent
Now, a placeholder for the wines to be tasted in a week – updated on December 29, 2021
NV Vilarnau Brut Reserva Cava DO (11.5% ABV, $14.99, 50% Macabeo, 35% Parellada, 15% Xarel Lo, 15+ months in the bottle, Organic grapes, Vegan)
Light golden color, small persistent bubbles
Freshly toasted bread, gunflint, medium intensity
Freshly toasted bread, a hint of granny smith apples, a hint of gunflint and minerality, nice creaminess
7+/8-, simply delightful
Everyday Bubbles
Do you have an everyday wine? An everyday wine is a wine you are happy to open on any day that has a name ending with “y”, like Monday, without any second thoughts. For the wine lover, there is always a ritual to choose the proper wine for each and every occasion (read: an evening after work), so the everyday wine is the wine allowing to circumvent that ritual, just open a bottle, get a glass, pour wine, and instantly feel better.
I would bet that for the majority of the wine lovers, the everyday wine would be a still wine – white, red, maybe a Rosé, but a still wine. There is an aura surrounding the sparkling wines – you can’t open bubbles without a special occasion, and “just another Monday” might not be it. There are many reasons the sparkling wines not considered appropriate for a casual evening. Sparkling wines have the whole celebratory mindset attached to them – “if I’m drinking sparkling wine I have something to celebrate”. Sparkling wines are usually more expensive than quality-comparable still wines. And so it is somewhat difficult to find a sparkling wine that can be designated as an “everyday wine”.
Difficult, but not impossible. Well, yes, it all depends. If you insist on drinking only Champagne, an “everyday Champagne” might be a challenge – at least a financial one. But if you are willing to look outside of Champagne, then Cava, Cremant, and Prosecco offer some good options. I want to bring two of such “everyday bubbles” to your attention.
First, Prosecco. Prosecco, produced in Northern Italy, is a sparkling wine that had been around almost as long as Champagne – with the only difference that it became internationally known only about 30 years ago (you can read the story here). But today, Prosecco is everywhere, and it offers lots of great options to consider for everyday bubbles. As, for example, Ca’ Di Prata, produced by Latentia Winery, and distributed by Mack and Schuhle I already wrote about a few months ago. Ca’ Di Prata takes its name from the town of Prata di Pordenone in Friuli, one of the epicenters of Prosecco production. I had an opportunity to try a few of the Ca’ Di Prata Prosecco wines (samples), and below are my notes:
Ca’ Di Prata Brut Prosecco DOC (11% ABV, $15.99)
Practically clear, nice tangy mousse
Touch of tropical fruit, a hint of honey
Refreshing, Meyer lemon, good acidity, mellow, good volume, a hint of sweet apples
8, very good, easy to drink, simple. Quaffable on its own, but should be perfect for cocktails (Mimosa, anyone?)
Ca’ Di Prata Rosé Extra Dry Prosecco DOC (11% ABV, $16.99, 85% Glera, 15% Pinot Nero)
Light pinkish color, abundant bubbles
Hint of strawberries
Strawberries all the way, a touch of lemon, creamy, inviting, a touch of sweetness, very well balanced.
8-, perfect everyday bubbles
Ca’ Di Prata Extra Dry Valdobbiadene Prosecco DOCG (11% ABV, $17.99)
Almost clear with a greenish hue, good amount of bubbles
Distant hint of an apple and flower petals, refreshing
Green apple, fresh, crisp, initially had a hint of sweetness which subsided, a touch of lemon.
8-, excellent for what it is – easy bubbles.
And then, of course, there is Cava – another perfect candidate for everyday bubbles. Cava is a Spanish sparkling wine, produced in exactly the same way as Champagne (secondary fermentation in the bottle) in Penedes in Catalonia. Cava is currently trying to change its image of simple, inexpensive, and often mediocre quality wine by introducing new categories and new subzones in the region – but this should be a subject for a separate post.
The Cava which I want you to consider for the everyday wine is one of my favorites, both aesthetically and taste-wise – Vilarnau Barcelona. I already wrote about Vilarnau at length before, so for the history, I would like to offer you this link. For this post, I tasted two wines (samples) from the beautifully appointed, Gaudi inspired bottles – here are my notes:
NV Vilarnau Brut Reserva Cava DO (11.5% ABV, $14.99, 50% Macabeo, 35% Parellada, 15% Xarel Lo, 15+ months in the bottle)
Light gold
Herbal, earthy, apple, lemon
Fresh, clean, apples, creamy, good body
7+, perfect for every day
NV Vilarnau Brut Reserva Rosé Cava DO (12% ABV, $15.99, 85% Garnacha, 15% Pinot Noir, 15+ months in the bottle)
Salmon pink
Fresh strawberries, a touch of gunflint
Fresh strawberries, crisp, clean, energetic,
Delicious.
8, excellent
What do you think? Would you make any of these wines your everyday wine? Cheers!
Double the Holiday Fun With Vilarnau
Who doesn’t like the holidays? Of course, it is easy to complain about how overwhelming the holidays can be when we feel obliged to please lots of people in seemingly irreconcilable ways with food or with gifts. But let’s not go there – holidays genuinely are about the happy state of mind, so let’s focus on it.
Here I come, with an offer to double your holiday fun and enjoyment – are you at least a little bit curious how am I going to be able to deliver on that?
Here is how. First, I want to recommend you a good wine. Wine is an indelible part of any celebration – any holiday, any birthday, any achievement. There are lots and lots of wines to chose from, and really not enough time to learn about all of them. Thus the wine recommendation means that you can save time for some other important tasks, and have one less thing to worry about. Check.
Now, how can I double the fun? Easy. How about the wine in a beautiful package? When you bring the bottle to someone’s house, or you put it out in front of your guests, isn’t it nice to hear “wow, what a beautiful bottle!”. We are visual creatures; not only we eat with our eyes first, but we drink with our eyes first too. Instead of explaining the bottle with the gray words-covered label “it comes from the great producer, really” or “the guy at the store said I would love it”, isn’t it better to just put the bottle on the table which makes a statement with its own appearance “here, look how beautiful I am”?
So here it is, my recommendation for the double fun for the holidays – Cava, Spanish Sparkling wine from Vilarnau, all wrapped in the beautiful, Gaudí-inspired packaging.
Vilarnau estate had been growing vines since the 12th century. The first Cava at Vilarnau was produced in 1949, and from there on, Vilarnau moved on to become one of the prominent Cava producers in Spain.
Vilarnau has a diverse portfolio of the sparkling wines, out of which the Trencadis series wines stand out beautifully. To explain the Trencadis concept, let me simply bring an explanation from the Vilarnau website:
“What is Trencadis?
“Trencadís” is a kind of mosaic that was used in the modernist artistic movement in Catalonia, created from tiny fragments of broken ceramic tiles, roof tiles or crockery. The technique is also known as “pique assiette”, in French. The Catalan architects Antoni GaudÍ and Josep MarÍa Pujol used “trencadÍs” in many of their designs, the most famous probably being “Parc Güell in Barcelona. Vilarnau’s proximity to Barcelona (not just geographic but also spiritual) means it was natural for this artistic resource used by the winery. As a result some of our cavas are dressed as follows.”
Just take a close look at those bottles, how closely they resemble the actual mosaic pieces with all the grout in between? Don’t you think these bottles are beautiful? If anything, they will make for a perfect conversation starter at any gathering – and now you can also explain to people what exactly are they looking at.
So what is behind the beautiful packages? Equally beautiful Cavas, which are also stylistically very different. Cava is a Spanish sparkling wine produced in so-called Classic Method, where the second fermentation takes place in the bottle, exactly as it is done in the production of the French Champagne.
NV Vilarnau Brut Reserva DO Cava (11.5% ABV, $14.99, 50% Macabeo, 35% Parellada, 15% Xarel-lo, 15+ months in the bottle)
Beautiful mousse
Classic Champagne nose – toasted bread, a touch of yeast, white apples, a touch of lemon
Same classic profile continues on the palate – freshly baked bread, a touch of yeast, golden delicious apple, fresh, exuberant, perfect acidity
8, delicious
NV Vilarnau Brut Reserva Rosé Delicat DO Cava (12% ABV, $15.99, 85% Grenache, 15% Pinot Noir, 15+ months in the bottle)
Beautiful mousse
A touch of toasted bread with the addition of strawberries and cranberries
Toasted bread, strawberries, a touch of cranberries, bitter orange, crisp, tart, cut-through acidity
8, excellent example of a sparkling Rosé
I hope you find these bottles as beautiful as I do, and I hope you will like the wines too. At this price level, Vilarnau Cavas will stand easily against a lot of Champagne, so go ahead, make your friends and guests happy. Cheers!
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