The Spanish Cava Regulatory Board has created a new category of sparkling wine bearing the name 'Cava de Paraje Calificado', which is reserved for the highest-quality tier of Cavas.
The board announced the new category, which differentiates itself due to its "uniqueness" and "excellence" as well as by the requisite of a minimum of 36 months of ageing. The minimum ageing for regular Cava is nine months, while Cava Reserva must be at least 15 and Cava Gran Reserva is 30 months, lavanguardia.com reports.
"These are Cavas with very demanding characteristics, exhaustive quality controls and a smaller area of origin," said Pedro Bonet, president of the Cava Regulatory Board.
Some other requirements are that the vines have to be at least ten years old, have a maximum yield of 18,000 kilos per hectare, a manual harvest and a maximum pressed of 60 litres per every 100 kilos of grape.
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Gabriela Guédez. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
