It's cup weekend here in Melbourne and you probably should be drinking something with bubbles in it, even if its before 11am on Monday morning. (for our international guests, there is a big horse race in Melbourne on Tuesday called the Melbourne Cup.  Its a good excuse to drink a lot of sparkling wine and have a day off from work). Aria is a Brut Nature Cava (made with no dosage) containing...

Some friends took a driving trip around Europe this summer, stopping close to Barcelona for a few days, taking time to stock up on Cava. We had some at the weekend. It was Freixenet Carta Nevada Sec. It’s not a fancy wine, and came in at around €5 a bottle. It’s a pale light yellow with oodles of fizz. The bubbles are small, and there’s lots of them that keep going like a Duracell bunny. It has...

Some friends took a driving trip around Europe this summer, stopping close to Barcelona for a few days, taking time to stock up on Cava. We had some at the weekend. It was Freixenet Carta Nevada Sec. It’s not a fancy wine, and came in at around €5 a bottle. It’s a pale light yellow with oodles of fizz. The bubbles are small, and there’s lots of them that keep going like a Duracell bunny. It has...

1996 Mestres Cava Brut Nature Millessimé - Spain, Cava (9/18/2006)Great wine, deeper in color than most showing golden(rich) and with super fine bubbles. The nose was pure lemon confit to me with hints of green peach, vanilla and light caramel. Might have been a bit oxidized. In the mouth it is soft and creamy with [...] More info at www.catavino.net...

As promised, I have a few more cavas to taste.  Sure cava week is over, but it isn't the only time to drink cava. Any time is cava time, especially Wednesday afternoon. Anyway on to the wine.  The 2003 Vintage Reserva is a blend of 45% Macabeo, 35% Parellada and 20 % Xarel.lo. and sees 24 months on lees. Brilliant pale gold in colour with a fine nose of lemon, yeasty bread and a hint of melon...

I had to get at least one cava in during cava week, and this is my favorite at the moment.  Brut Nature is a no dosage style that is typically very crisp and fresh.   This wine is a blend of 60% Macabeo and 20% each of Xarel-lo and parellada.  The wine is aged on lees for 12 months, and for those bubbly freaks there is a disgorgement date on the back label. A pale gold in colour...

Segura Viudas is one of the many brands of the massive Fleixenet cava house.  They seem to focus on Macabeo and Parellada for their traditional house style, with a range of newer wines that feature  Xarel·lo.  They also have a range of still wines, that I don't think are out here as yet. The Brut Vintage is a blend of 67% Macabeo and  33% Parellada that has been aged on lees for 3 years...

I had a look at the Brut Nature version of this wine last week and from what I can work out the only real difference between these two wines is dosage, the Brut has 8.8 grams per litre of residual sugar where as the Brut nature has less than 3.  ...

The Codorníu family’s wine business goes back to the middle of the 16th century. A document of that period states that the family had several machines and implements relating to the wine industry. In 1659 Anna Codorníu married Miguel Raventós and the families, each with a long wine tradition, were united. Years later, in 1872, Josep Raventós produced cava for the first time in Spain using...

My parents were in town this past week. Hence the slow posting schedule. We had a great time and one day I was able to include a visit to the Cava wine producer CodornÃu . A morning stroll across the grounds of this historic estate and an early afternoon wine tasting made for a great time and an educational one for my parents. All in all we tasted 3 wines, and covered most of the estates...