Mercat Cava Brut Nature

  • 92 Wine &
    Spirits
  • 91 Robert
    Parker
3.7 Very Good (106)
14 99
OFFER 10% off your order of $99+
Ships today if ordered in next 9 hours
You purchased this 11/20/23
1
Limit Reached
You purchased this 11/20/23
Alert me about new vintages and availability
Mercat Cava Brut Nature Front Bottle Shot
Mercat Cava Brut Nature Front Bottle Shot Mercat Cava Brut Nature Front Label Mercat Cava Brut Nature Back Bottle Shot

Product Details


Varietal

Region

Producer

Size
750ML

ABV
11.5%

Your Rating

0.0 Not For Me NaN/NaN/N

Somm Note

Winemaker Notes

A complex nose of ripe pear and brioche with zesty minerality on the palate and chalky soil notes. Stone fruits like apricots and nectarines are framed by a structure of acidity and limestone that show through due to the lack of dosage.

Professional Ratings

  • 92

    From vines planted on clay and limestone around the village of Sant Sadurni d’Anoia, this is a classic blend of 50 percent xarel.lo, 40 percent macabeo, with parellada making up the rest. It aged for 18 months on its lees and developed slight hints of flor, as if it were a bubbly interpretation of a Fino. It moves through the mouth in cool waves of flavor, the texture firm yet creamy. It’s a rich, layered sparkler to serve with suquet de peix, a classic Catalàn fish soup with clams.

  • 91
    A wonderful peachy bouquet that blossoms in the glass with hints of dried apricot and honeysuckle. The palate is very well-balanced with crisp acidity and a fine thread of bitter lemon that lends tension and poise, leading to a very champagnois finish. Excellent!
Mercat

Mercat

View all products
Mercat, Spain
Mercat  Winery Image
Inspired by Barcelona’s Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria – the quintessentially Catalan market destination where locals (and tourists alike) gather to eat, shop and gossip. Mercat Cava aims to evoke the same spirit of community, liveliness, and tradition. The Cava is made using traditional methods in the cellars of El Xamfra, where Francisco Dominguez hand crafts every bottle with the utmost attention and care. The Mercat Cava spends a minimum of 18 months aging on its lees and is finished with a very low dosage, allowing the chalky soils on which the old indigenous vines are grown, to shine through on the palate.
Image for Non-Vintage content section
View all products

A term typically reserved for Champagne and Sparkling Wines, non-vintage or simply “NV” on a label indicates a blend of finished wines from different vintages (years of harvest). To make non-vintage Champagne, typically the current year’s harvest (in other words, the current vintage) forms the base of the blend. Finished wines from previous years, called “vins de reserve” are blended in at approximately 10-50% of the total volume in order to achieve the flavor, complexity, body and acidity for the desired house style. A tiny proportion of Champagnes are made from a single vintage.

There are also some very large production still wines that may not claim one particular vintage. This would be at the discretion of the winemaker’s goals for character of the final wine.

Image for Cava: Spanish Sparkling Wine content section
View all products

What is Cava?

Spain adopted the word, cava, which technically means ‘cellar’ in Catalan, to describe their sparkling wines made using the traditional method. While this style was first created outside of Spain in the 1600s, its birthplace inside of Spain came in 1872 when Jose Raventós of Codorníu first produced traditional method sparkling wine in the town of San Sadurní d’Anoia. Uniquely, the Cava denomination isn’t restricted to one geographical area but rather, it spans eight total wine regions. However, about 90% of Spain’s total production of Cava, Spanish sparkling wine happens within Catalonia, and about 75% is produced within the borders of San Sadurní d’Anoia, inside the smaller Catalan region of Penedès. In 2019, Spain registered nearly 38,000 hectares of vineyards for Cava production, compared to just under 34,000 in Champagne.

How is Cava sparkling wine made?

Cava, like many other sparkling wines of the world is made using the traditional method, or "Champagne method," or método tradicional in Spanish, in which the second fermentation (the one that makes the bubbles) takes place inside the bottle. With this method, spent yeast cells remain in contact with the wine during bottle aging, giving it a creamy mouthful, a toasted bread or brioche quality and in many cases, the capacity to age.

What are the Cava wine grapes?

The mainstay Cava grape varieties include Macabeo, Parellada, and Xarel-lo. Macabeo, also known as Viura, lends pleasant aromatics to the blend, while Parellada adds acidity and finesse. Xarel-lo is the grape that gives body, earth and greengage characteristics to Cava. Occasionally Chardonnay is used as a blending grape or sole variety in making Cava wine. Governmental inclusion approval was awarded in 1986 but still, Chardonnay makes up only a fraction of total vineyard area. For rosé, in Spanish called rosado, the local Trepat and Garnacha can be used, along with Pinot Noir (first permitted in 1998 for rosado and in 2007 for white Cavas).

Cava Tasting Profile

Since Cava is a sparkling wine produced on the Mediterranean where temperatures are warmer and there is more sunshine compared with Champagne, you can expect that Cava sparkling wine will generally have a gentler acid profile compared with its French counterpart. Furthermore, especially when the indigenous varieties are used, common Cava flavors will include citrus peel, fennel, wildflower, lemon blossom and flint or saline. Most Cava is produced in the Brut style, so dry, with a slightly rounder finish that balances brightness with brioche notes and supple fruit. Brut Nature or Zero Dosage examples are bone dry, whereas Extra-Dry Cava will be slightly sweet and a Demi-Sec Cava will have the highest sweetness level.

Cava Pairings

One of the best things about pairing Cava wine is you can drink it on its own or with just about any food! But if you want to focus on bringing out Cava's uniquely brilliant bouquet and citrus notes, rich or seafood-centric dishes are perfect food pairings for Cava. Try Cava with butter poached lobster, seafood risotto, puff pastry and caramelized onions or fried chicken.

SPRVKBNCVNVC_0 Item# 117966

Internet Explorer is no longer supported.
Please use a different browser like Edge, Chrome or Firefox to enjoy all that Wine.com has to offer.

It's easy to make the switch.
Enjoy better browsing and increased security.

Yes, Update Now

Search for ""