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BRITISH WINE TRADE WAG recently joked that English sparkling is the wine champagne could have been. It’s a revision of the bitter-tinged gag that cava lovers have been telling for years. Here’s a world-class sparkling wine made in the traditional method that lives in the shadow of champagne – the question is whether producers, importers and their marketers, and the Cava DO can find room to shout about cava as a world-beating wine in its own right and celebrate the quirks and uniqueness of this very special product.

“Cava is a different experience to champagne,” says John Graves, on-trade channel director at UK importer Bibendum. He argues that cava is not an alternative to the sector-leading traditional-method sparkling wine – rather it’s a different proposition altogether. “Champagne in the on-trade is a big purchase, good cava sits with ood wine, like, say, a bottle of Chablis, and that’s how it will be sold successfully,” he says.

Bibendum is having success at the premium end of the market with the Llopart brand, the key to which, says Graves, is “selling it more as a wine than simply as something in the ‘sparkling’ category”. This is an interesting point, and one that’s picked up on by one of the category’s leading producers, Freixenet.

Jan-Hendrik Boerse, senior vice president of Henkell & Co, which acquired Freixenet in August 2018, says the company does not compare its wines with other brands or wine regions and promotes its cava as ‘wines’ first and foremost without playing the sparkling card.

“The consumer knows very well what to buy and for which moment,” says Boerse. “Freixenet focuses its communication on celebration, big and small moments, and cava is able to match many consumer moments, from the most informal ones with a young, fresh and fruity Carta Nevada, to the most formal moments of a unique celebration.”

It’s this premium end of the cava market that the DO is keen to push and with this in mind it recently created a new category within the DO for more premium wines to sit. It’s hoped these serious cavas will demonstrate just how good cava can be at the business end of the market.

The Cava de Paraje Calificado category sees the region’s dozen best single-vineyard cavas officially recognised, and so far things are going well. “Cava de Paraje Calificado classification is progressing positively and it is helping the category to grow qualitatively,” says Codorníu-Raventós group winemaking director Diego Pinilla. “We firmly think every initiative that could help to raise the value of cava’s global image and premiumise the category is positive.”

CONSUMER EDUCATION

Toni Ingram, head of marketing for Pernod Ricard UK, which owns the Campo Viejo range of cavas, believes the new DO is all part of educating the consumer about the process and history of cava. “Over time it will hopefully help educate consumers about the quality and story behind cava. This, in turn, will create a beneficial halo effect for cava across all of the drinks trade, on-trade and off-trade,” she says.

Boerse agrees. “The Cava de Paraje Calificado has helped to upgrade the whole category and has granted cava recognition within the most prestigious sparkling wine categories in the world. This improvement in the perception of consumers is leading eventually to an increasing interest for premium cavas as well,” he says.

There is optimism across the whole category – not just at the top end – with export sales up 3.5% from 2016 to 2017 and a number of export markets, including Germany, Belgium, United Kingdom, US, France and Japan, all performing well. This is borne out among importers such as Ehrmanns in the UK, which is adding cava listings as interest grows. “Next year we will be introducing the Finca la Capella, a Cava de Paraje Calificado single estate Cava to our Juve & Camps range. The Juve cavas are all north of £12, so our approach to the market is much more selective,” says Ehrmanns director and Spain buyer Peter Dauthieu.

In the DO itself – as in much of Spain and Europe the 2018 growing season has produced good-quality fruit which producers are excited about. “We are very happy with the quality of this year’s grapes. They offer very fresh aromas and are sure to provide cavas that are very suitable for aging,” says Codorníu’s Pinilla.

It’s difficult to write about sparkling wine without mentioning prosecco, the consumer success story that continues to surprise analysts and trade experts with its growth and reach. Many cava producers clearly don’t want to discuss prosecco outside of stating that any consumer trend for sparkling wine is good for the category as a whole. Others, thankfully, have more robust opinions and are looking at the pros and cons of the prosecco boom and, crucially, how it’s affecting cava.

“The global sparkling category growth is slowing down and prosecco is still very aggressive in the market,” says Pinilla. It can be said that it’s a moment of consolidation and rationalisation of the category. Cava its suffering, particularly in the low and standard price level, but from our point of view, it’s going to be a key player in getting the premiumisation among prosecco consumers,”.

For Pernod Ricard the prosecco headache comes in terms of marketing. “The growth of prosecco has resulted in increasing promotional pressures,” says Toni Ingram.

“Awareness of cava and the quality of the winemaking still remains low compared to prosecco.”

TOUGH TO MARKET

Looking at it from an agency/importer perspective and focusing on what sales teams in the field are doing to differentiate between prosecco and cava, John Graves thinks that the success of prosecco makes it harder to market cava. “Prosecco has become more dominated by entry-point wines and the customer is not buying it as a quality product,” he says. “The key will be to encourage customers to buy cava and premium prosecco as a wine and not an alternative to cheaper Pinot Grigio.”

Peter Dauthieu believes the best route for cava is to encourage this trading up. “The success of prosecco has definitely helped to get producers to focus more on the premium side of cava,” he says.

Many producers are turning to the complexity and variety of styles within cava to help push their message, while also shouting about how well cava works in a food-matching situation. “Cava is a super gastronomic partner, and the perfect match for any occasion according to the different ageing,” says Diego Pinilla. “Cavas for the long haul are ideal for the gourmet gastronomy, while young cavas, with just nine month’s ageing, are lovely to toast any occasion.”

Communication – whether it’s about the styles and versatility of cava or about the process of production and the time and care that is taken to produce a complex sparkling wine – is fundamental to cava’s future success, and this is a talking point throughout the whole industry.

“The battle will be to improve the consumer’s perception of the wine,” says Graves. “The perception is still of an entry-point product that has previously been heavily discounted and featured in a race to the bottom.”

Toni Ingram shares a similar view. “Communicating to consumers the quality of the cava winemaking process and that this is worth paying more for compared to prosecco is one of the biggest challenges for this style of wine,” she says. Pinella agrees: “The single biggest challenge is to be able to make the customer understand what cava is and making them worth the heritage, the origin, the quality, the versatility and the excitement that cava brings to our lives.”

With cava exports growing and a decent 2018 harvest settling nicely in tank there are many reasons for optimism among producers and those in the market selling and buying cava, but operating in such an aggressive category where prosecco remains at the top of its game means that its message must be crystal clear. Thankfully, for cava there’s a lot to shout about.

MEET THE NEW HEAD OF THE CAVA DO

On August 28, 2018, the Consejo Regulador del Cava announced its new president. Javier Pagés Font, CEO of Grupo Codorniú-Raventós and vice president of the Spanish Wine Federation, succeeded Pedro Bonet who had held the post for the previous four years.

“I begin this new era with pride, conviction and commitment. It is an exciting challenge to succeed the last president who established the bases to build up cava’s prestige,” says Pagés Font.

“I am committed to working with all those who represent the industry – vine-growers, producers, co-ops and institutions – to keep on strengthening the value of cava and to position it among the best sparkling wines in the world.”

Former president Bonet was rewarded for his work at the DO with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the International Wine Challenge, which recognised the communication strategy developed by the DO Cava during his four years at the helm.