Juvé y Camps Pinot Noir Brut Rosé Cava, Catalonia, Spain (Alcohol 12%, Residual Sugar 10 g/l) LCBO Vintages $24.95 (750ml bottle)
One of my favourite liquid discoveries of the recent festive season was this utterly charming Pinot Noir-based Cava from Juvé y Camps.
As my wife doesn’t imbibe, our lad is only seven, and my mother-in-law was hitting the red, on Xmas Day I cracked this open and thoroughly enjoyed it all by myself alongside a very traditional (not to mention utterly delicious) Xmas dinner courtesy of the wonderfully reliable Justin’s Oven, Kimberley.
Upon finishing the bottle I was reminded just how terrific good Cava can be given the right situation, and for me, on that particular day, this wonderful pink fizz really hit the spot.
The Pinot fruit for this bottling comes from the large 200 hectare (500 acre) Espiells estate located in one of the very best growing areas of Penedès. Traditionally planted to the Cava staples, Macabeu and Xarel·lo, more recent incomers, both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, have adapted extremely successfully to these vineyards on the slopes of Montserrat.
Pouring a most appealing pink/orange hue, the bubbles are tiny and manifold, just the way a good Cava should be. The explosive fruit basket nose gives you red cherries, raspberries, and strawberries, alongside perfumed aromatics of honeysuckle, violet, rose, and just a touch of autolytic character manifesting as slightly toasted baguette. Ahhhhh… just what I was looking for in a glass of sparkling Pinot.
In the mouth there are delectable snappy, crisp, and crunchy red berry fruits, characteristics that I always tend to seek out in wines made in this partially macerated style; to be honest, most fall at the first hurdle, but this one delivers in spades. The texture of the fine mousse on the palate is seriously top notch.
This is a simply cracking wine, and will be a regular purchase of mine from here on in. Highly recommended.
And looking back, I think this may be the highest I have scored a sparkling wine in quite some time!
(Four and half apples out of a possible five)
