Some of you will be surprised by today’s wine, but we sure weren’t. Having offered an older disgorgement of this Brut Nature from Bohigas in the past, we knew exactly what to expect, and we got it: not merely a Champagne “alternative” but a genuinely worthy competitor at half the price. Because of the ubiquity of certain mass-market Spanish Cavas, many forget about the very real artisan sparkling wine tradition that exists in the Penedès region of northeast Spain.
Fermí Bohigas is a family-run property that dates to the 13th century, and the vineyard resources and craftsmanship they pour into this $29 stunner make for an impressive stat sheet: organically farmed fruit from cool, high-altitude vineyards, vinified in the méthode Champenoise and rested for a whopping 30 months on its lees, then disgorged and bottled without dosage (sugar addition). There’s complexity, tension, and minerality in abundance—everything one could want from a well-made sparkling wine at a price that’s beyond belief. Located in the Anoia River basin, northwest of Barcelona, the bucolic Bohigas property is about as far from mass-market Cava as one could possibly get. This is “grower” Cava that never fails to blow our doors off, so stock up now and serve it triumphantly to your Champagne-loving friends. You can afford to pour heavy!
As we’ve noted in other Cava offers, the Cava DO (Denominación de Origen) can be applied to “Champagne-method” sparkling wines made in 160 municipalities across seven different Spanish growing zones—but the heartland of Cava production is the countryside just west of Barcelona, especially the Penedès DO. Bohigas is based in the town of Òdena, a historically important wine-producing area about 40 kilometers north of Vilafranca del Penedès, where vineyard altitudes are a touch higher and temperatures a little cooler. It is ever-so-marginally outside the Penedès DO boundaries, so you’ll see a “Catalonia” DO designation on today’s bottle; the wine is driven by the classic indigenous grapes of the region—Xarel-lo, Macabeo, and Parellada—with a 10% dollop of Chardonnay, which has become one of the authorized varieties for Cava production.
The Bohigas Cavas are sourced from two vineyard estates near Òdena, especially their Can Macià, which spans 200 hectares (of which 35 are vineyards in the process of official organic certification). They describe the climate as “Continental-Mediterranean,” allowing for wide day-night temperature swings that help preserve acidity in grapes. The soils are a clay-limestone mix and vine age in many of their parcels exceeds 50 years. All in all, the raw materials are there for great sparkling wine, and Bohigas does not squander them.
Aged for an extended period on its lees, this Brut Nature (zero-dosage) offers up an appealing mix of depth, complexity, and mineral-etched precision. Comprised of 50% Xarel-lo, 25% Macabeo, 15% Parellada, and 10% Chardonnay, it displays a yellow-gold core moving to silver at the rim, with a delicate mousse and ripe aromas of green apple, pear, salted lemon, raw pastry dough, chopped nuts, anise, white flowers, and wet stones. There is lots of ripe fruit and a pleasing palate-coating texture, then it buttons up nicely on the mineral-laced finish. This wine’s importer regularly uses it as a “ringer” in Champagne tastings, which might be a fun thing for you to do, too—but really, what’s most important is to just enjoy it. To really get into the spirit of this wine serve it in all-purpose white wine stems at 45 degrees and pair it with slices of jamón serrano, or a wedge of Spanish-style tortilla. Either way, you’re kicking things off in style. Cheers!
