What ever happened to Cava?

Do you remember when Cava was all the rage? The heady years before the public got a sweet tooth for cheaper, albeit less impressive Prosecco. Well, the days when it was top of the charts for bargain sparkling are long over – sales have in fact really plateaued since 2010.

If you do a bit of digging beyond the few big brand labels out there (Freixenet I’m looking at you), you can get stuff that beats out the Prosecco by miles and is a much closer alternative to Champagne’s taste. But how did we get here?

Disunity

A couple of factors have hit Cava hard. A combination of climate change and controversial decisions by the region’s regulatory council have caused upset, both philosophically and physically, for every producer.

Firstly, a huge rift has developed between the region’s producers which has all but destroyed any sense of a unified Cava front to the global market. The first big break from tradition came in 2012 when producer Raventós i Blanc decided to leave the Cava designation (Cava D.O) and create their own, the Conca del Riu Anoia. This was a shock at the time as they were a well-regarded, high quality Cava producer.

Then came the introduction of the Clàssic Penedès D.O in 2014 by some bold producers breaking from Cava’s regulations. It included stricter rules including organic grapes and 15 months ageing on lees. The producers behind this idea wanted to build a sub-region in Penedes that could bring terroir, place and pride to Cava. Why? Because Cava can actually be sourced from regions all over Spain (such as Rioja), not just Catalonia. The producers who moved to this felt Cava had become diluted with plonk and lost any semblance of quality. The idea was to separate the wheat from the chaff and create a more premium category outside standard Cava.

Next in 2019, even more quality producers (Gramona, Recaredo and others) left the Cava designation and founded a producer group known as Corpinnat. Again, their production comes with more stringent requirements and pitches itself as high quality. They had originally intended to remain part of Cava and to use this term as a sign of quality. But the regulatory board threatened an ultimatum to drop it and that’s just what Corpinnat listened to. Now, their wines are labelled as Corpinnat instead of Cava, denoting higher quality and another important split.

This Cava split is still very prevalent. In November 2024, Cisteller jumped ship and joined Corpinnat, whilst the most recent loss for Cava came soon after in December 2024 with Muscàndia leaving the Cava name and rebranding to create a new, premium image.

These days, Cava is most notable for the huge size of its biggest players, namely Freixenet and Codorniu, who together produce about 75% of all Cava (as of 2024). The Cava designation is broad and has little bearing on the diverse farming and winemaking methods between each producer, pitting huge industrial scale vs smaller producers. So, it is understandable as to why there was some upset from these quality producers. Their aims are noble in wanting to give their version of “Cava” a strong image as a real force in the sparkling world rather than yet another bottle of cheap plonk. The result?

Simply, that the many splinter groups from the Cava name seem to have fragmented the industry beyond the sphere of the everyday wine drinker. There are now even more Spanish sparkling wines from Catalonia that don’t bear the Cava name, even though they likely once were, confusing the consumer and limiting the influence and power of the brand name Cava. That said, now you know these different versions of quality “Cava” to look out for, I really recommend you get hold of some. Put Champagne and Cremant aside and relive your Cava days, just better.

It will take time but there is opportunity for growth with these new Cava designations, just remember, they won’t be called Cava!

Drought

The other big influence on the production of Cava over recent years has been as a result of climate change. It is hitting every wine region to the benefit of some like English wines, but often to the detriment of traditional regional styles and tastes in most of the World.

This has been felt very keenly in Cava with drought affecting the region since 2021 causing huge harvesting issues. For example, in 2023 an estimated 60 million bottles worth of wine were lost due to the weather. This caused Freixenet to furlough nearly 80% of staff!

To combat this, the regulatory body made some moves such as temporarily allowing new grape varieties in the production of Cava such as Merlot and Tempranillo which would help producers shore up volume. However, this was a bit of an afront to the smaller producers who couldn’t benefit from this in the same way as the giants of the region. Moreover, there are legitimate arguments to be made about the consistency in quality and style of Cava which will further confuse consumers. Again, disunity comes into play.

What else does this mean?

The drought conditions, destroying vines and shriveling grapes on the vine resulting in considerably lower yields has pushed up prices ultimately, and consumers, who associate the cheaper big brand names with low prices, have not been prepared to pay more. This might explain why many of the smaller producers leaving Cava to premiumise have done so.

What does the future hold?

For now, it seems the big producers are safe, in part thanks to their ability to expand operations, be it with Freixenet Prosecco (now their top wine) or their exports of base wine to Germany for the making of Sekt. But the fact remains that Prosecco has this mantle in the cheap fizz race and Cava will struggle to catch it. Many believe it isn’t even worth trying. And that’s why there is the push to make Cava more special, more premium, more delicious.

After all, it still isn’t expensive and you’ll be getting a great Champagne alternative. It’s made the same way as Champagne, unlike Prosecco, just with different grapes (Xarel-lo, Parellada and Macabeo). This method, the traditional method, promotes greater depth and savoury notes from the lees, something that pretty much all supermarket Prosecco lacks. Plus, you’ll only be looking at maybe £10-15 to get something that will really remind you of Champagne. Now that does beat Prosecco!

So, if you have missed the days when you used to enjoy Cava, and wonder why you ended up substituting it for Prosecco, perhaps now is the time to revert back to an old favourite. Armed with this new knowledge, you might be missing out on more than you think.