Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Wine Wednesday: Rigol 1897 Cava

It took me a while to warm up to white wines. It took me even longer to figure out sparkling wines. I always assumed they were for Special Occasions. I also assumed the only good ones were expensive, because the cheap ones I'd had at college parties tasted vaguely of vinegar. Econo Boy loves sparkling wine, but even he never thought to just grab a bottle for an everyday meal.

As has often been the case, Dorothy and John at the Wall Street Journal showed me the light. In December, they wrote a column encouraging readers to try more sparkling wines with food. They also mentioned Spanish Cava as a great bargain.

My very first Cava, the Rigol 1897 Brut, made me a complete sparkling wine convert.

Image from ultimatewineshop.com

It was marvelous -- nutty and lively, with melon and honey notes, and no hint of vinegar. Econo Boy and I had it with cheese fondue, and it was so much fun to pop that cork, watch the bubbles fizz in our glasses, and make a special night out of a weeknight.

Our wedding sparkling wine will also be a Cava: the Segura Viudas Brut Reserva.

Image from seguraviudausa.com

What does this wine taste like? Uh ... well ... I don't know.

Econo Boy and I took a bit of a chance on this one. The liquor store where we bought our wedding wines had this on sale for $6.50 a bottle, and it had glowing reviews from Wine Enthusiast and Wine & Spirits. But we haven't been able to find it at a liquor store out here, so we just decided to go for it and add it to our order. Wine & Spirits wrote:
Segura Viudas regularly hits the tops of our charts for Cava. The Brut Reserva is the best Cava we tasted last year, regardless of price, a graceful, complex bubbly with dry apple flavors wrapped in smoke, spice and minerals.
Sounds promising -- I can't wait to sip it from my champagne flute!

2 comments:

kahlia said...

So it's obviously way late to comment to say that I love that you had cava at your wedding, but I did want to let you know that here in Catalonia (where cava comes from), it's totally normal to drink cava before and/or with dinner. Every time we eat with my fiancé's parents (who can afford good food and good wine more often than we can), they serve the same cava (Codorniu)--and at the same temperature (his dad's a bit weird about wine temperature!)--along with a wine, which they use as their main beverage while eating. I'm not much of a drinker and always end up with my water glass battling for space in front of my wide cava glass and the red or white wine glass!
So, all that to say: you can totally drink sparkling wine any time you feel like it and it so counts as an appropriate everyday wine.
Cheers!

ps- I'm planning our July 2010 wedding in Michigan (while living in Barcelona), so I'm sure I'll be going all the way back to the beginning of your blog to see how you dealt with the distance!
pps- I found your blog through LPC at -Privilege, and I've been enjoying both your and her blogs quite a bit recently!

Bride in Exile said...

Thanks so much for the kind words, Kahlia! And cheers to everyday sparkling wines, especially Spanish ones :-)