Det drar ihop sig till en resa söderut i kung Gustav II Adolfs fotspår och genom Martin Luther land. Det ska besökas mer än 10 producenter av Sekt och dessutom ett besök på tyska sektföreningen. Det finns väldigt lite av kvalitetssekt på Systembolaget. Det blir en resa för att hitta var den bästa sekten i Tyskland finns.
För att inget skulle bli glömt blev det en provtur till Enköping och Uppsala. Ställplatsen i Enköping var undermålig, alldeles för trång och dessutom inte dirkt välkomnade. Det blev övernattning på en tvärgata. Det fungerar utmärkt med en lagom stor bil.
I helgen är det är det vin och matmässa i Borlänge, Munskänkarna har ett stånd med doftprover men så genomför Eric Stein och Göran Sjöblom vinprovningar både fredag och lördag eftermiddag. Lördagens mousserandeprovning är fullbokad.
At the food and wine fare at Borlänge Sweden Eric Stein will make a presentation about the subject Whats the difference between Champain and other sparkling. There will be two lectures one Friday afternoon and one Saturday afternoon. The presentation will bee followed by a tasting of six sparkling.
There will be one champage, one Cremant d´Alsace, two Cava, one sparkling from Chile and one from Argentina.
Munskänkarna Nedansiljan samlade hela 40 vinentusiaster I Leksand trots att det samtidigt pågick kvalhockey i en angränsande hockeylada mot Mora. Eric Stein berättade om resan i Kataloniens bästa Cavaområde med besök på sex producenter och besök på Consejo regulador. Vi fick prova på några av marknadens bästa Cava utifrån vad spanjorerna tyckte själva.
Munskänka listening to Cava Presentation
Deltagarna fick själva prova på att klassa vinerna utifrån Sensorikkursens Hedonic Scorecard. Värdena i arket är snittvärden av deltagarnas bedömningar
The Munskänkarna section Nedansiljan had a tasting of some of the best Cavas. Eric Stein presented the visit to the Cavaregion and lead the tasting and scoring of the wines. The values in the scorecard are mean values of the audience scoring.
The tasting was very appreciated and really lifted the impression of Cava to another level.
Enoteca from Gramona was the most appreciated Cava for the evening.
Of the presented vines the Doppiozeta was the most appreciated, except for the Marsala that was something else.
After having been through of all Italian districts the general impression from the participants that the best tasting wines are from the northern part of Italy.
At harvest yield is limited to 12000 kg/ha. Pressing of max 66% of the primary juice or 100 liter/150 kg grapes is allowed to be used for Cava production. However for Cava de Paraje only 8000kg/ha can be used and at pressing only 60% can be used for Cava.
The juce from different grapes is fermented to a primary base wine. The base wines are is mixed to a base wine cuvé must have a alcohol content between 9,5 and 11,5%.
A second fermentation is used to raise the pressure above 3,5 Bar. Sugar and yeast is added to allow the pressure in the bottles n to be raised. Classic Method must be used.
Cava Quality classes
To be allowed to be called Cava the bottle with wine will have to be stored on the lies for at least 9 months.
Cava Reserva requires storage of the bottle with wine on the lies for at least 15 months and for Gran Reserva 30 months. The new Cava de Paraje will require at least 36 months storage. Some producers store the wine for a much longer period. Date of production must be marked on the cork.
Small Gyropalette
When it is over and it is time to prepare the bottle for the market the bottle are riddled and gradually raised to vertical position with the bottle neck down. This can be done manually with wooden pupitres or machines called Gyropalette. Removing the cork and the lies called degaugement can be done manually or the bottleneck can be frozen and the degaugement done with machines.
Before a new cork is put on, the loss of liquid is compensated. For a Brut Nature, wine from another bottle is used to replace the lost liquid. For all other liqueur de expedition is added also including the sugar dosage needed to reach the expected rest sugar content. The Liqueur de expedition may add surprises from a secret family recipe. However there are EU rules specifying what is allowed.
The ready Cava product will be controlled and blind tasted by Consejo Regulador before obtaining the expected control mark.
Germans are not only the biggest consumers in the world of Sparkling wine. What few people know they are also number 3 in production after France and Italy, bigger than Spain and Cava.
It is really surprising with the few products available at the Swedish wine monopoly. German wine in Sweden now has a young and ambitious representative Mrs Pontén with sommelier and journalist background.
A usefull meeting was held in Stockholm and with what was indicated as future trend for German Sekt regulations, the meeting planned with German Wine in Wiesbaden will be very interesting.
This is part of the mission starting in April for me to find the best German quality Sekt.
Visiting the regulatory board in Villa Franca de Penedes we were invited to a Masterclass in Cava. It was very interesting to get the information confirmed from the source. The webpage is available in both English and Spanish, however a lot of details about the Spanish wine law is only available in Spanish. The link to the webpage can be found here Cosejo Regulador.
Teacher in Cava Masterclass
The big news for 2016 was the launch of the single vineyard Cava “Cava de Paraje”. The consept opened for farmer applications to classify their best vineyards as a Paraje in July 2016. It will be an interesting development to follow the new quality step.
Cava DO is a geographic limited area with mainarea in Catalonia. Part of Rioja can produce Cava and in some other spots. The capital of Cava is Sant Sadurni d´Anoia where most voume production but also the quality production is located.
The grapes allowed for Cava production are Macabeu, Xarel-lo, Parellada, Chardonnay, Subirat Parent, Pinot Noir, Trepat, Garacha Tinta and Monastrel. Chardonnay has started to be common n blends but for white Cava Pinot Noir is very new and Rosé Cava is not a very big product. Quality producers claim that high proportion of Xarel-lo is an advantage for long storage on the lies. So if you are searching for a quality Cava, look for a Gran Reserva dominated by Xarel-lo.
Torelló som en gammal estancia från en västernfilm
När vi väl kom fram till Torelló visade det sig att det var en gammalt familjeägt vingård ända sedan 1300 talet. Från början var det bara stilla viner. Odlingara låg runt om gården så det var korta transportsträckor till vineriet. Det var först 1951 som man började med Cavatillverkning.
Vi fick träffa the grand old lady Ernesina Torelló och fick en rundvandring i deras produktionsanläggning.
Därefter fick vi en provsmakning av deras sortiment.
Vi provade
Rose Brut 2014
Brut special edition 2011
Gran reserva brut natur 2011
Rose reserva 2011
Rut Natur Gran Reserva 2010
Bucusto (färgglada) 2011
Det var trevlga viner men det som stack ut var deras rosé Reserva.
När vi skulle besöka Torelló var det inte första gången som den gamla dedicerade GPS tekniken upplevdes som föråldrad. Det hela började med att vi försökte hitta vingården med vår Garmin, men den gata som angivits på websidan förde oss till toppen av ett berg där vi till slut konstaterade att det var heltokigt. Vi tog fram telefonen med Google Waze. Vi hade tidigare provat Googel Maps navigator, men den hade nackdelen att den utgick hela tiden från ursprungsplatsen och räknade inte om man tvingades till en omväg. Med Waze var det möjligt att söka på företag och begära att åka det från nuvarande plats och den uppdateras hela tiden. Den här gången räddade Waze situationen och frde oss till vingården bara 10min försenat.
Waze fick bli resans räddare inte bara en gång. Den verkar användas av folk i hela Europa och har snabbare uppdatering om trafikstörningar än den traditionella. Då den hela tiden slurpar i sig av surfpotten, fick den bi komplement.
