Corpinnat: the new brand of high quality cava

Catalonia has a new cava brand thanks to an initiative by six producers to promote high quality sparkling wines from the Penedès region. Gramona, Llopart, Nadal, Recaredo, Sabaté i Coca and Torelló are the cava wineries behind the new brand that goes under the name of Corpinnat. “We want to tell the world that this part of the Mediterranean makes great sparkling wines of great quality and complexity that are unique,” said Ton Mata, co-president of AVEC, the association representing the cava producers involved.

The name Corpinnat means ‘born in the heart of Penedès’ and the producers hope the new brand, which will begin selling its first bottles in October, will help boost the renown of high quality cava from the area. The six wineries have spent three years working on the project, which sets common requirements to guarantee the quality of the sparkling wines to be sold under the brand’s name, such as where the grapes are grown or which varieties are used. AVEC hopes other cava producers will later join the brand.

Fair price for producers

One key aspect of the initiative is to ensure that the small farmers producing the grapes get a fair price for their product. Corpinnat cava can only use  grapes that were bought for at least 60 cents a kilo, when the average currently stands at 40 cents. “There is a social intention to improve life in the local area and that of grape growers, who have to make a living and should be fairly compensated for providing fruit of maximum quality,” said Xavier Gramona, another co-president of AVEC.

As for the expected output of the new cava brand, the six wineries between them currently produce about two million bottles of cava, which are sold for around 252 million euros. However, the producers point out that this figure is not definitive as more cava producers are expected to join the initiative in the coming months. As for the price of Corpinnat cava, the AVEC representatives could not yet give a final price but said “it will be high enough for the consumer to understand that it is sparkling wine of the highest quality.”