Avinyo Cabernet Sauvignon 2001
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Avinyó Cava is a premier, hand-made, artisanal sparkling wine house which stands in stark contrast to the status quo of the industrial Cava machine. It begins with their location in the Catalan countryside in the remote village of Avinyonet del Penedès, where the Esteve family traces their history to 1597 with the building of their Masia (Catalan farmhouse) named "Can Fontanals," the traditional family home. Their spirit of innovation and respect for traditions, driven by an undercurrent of constant self-improvement and a relentless drive for quality, are the defining characteristics that set Avinyó Cava apart from others.
Today, Avinyó produces wine exclusively from vineyards that they own and farm organically with great care and respect, a rarity among Cava producers. This point cannot be overstated, as the unfortunate commodification of Cava by the industrial-volume producers has resulted in intense downward pressure for grape prices in the region and a subsequent race to the bottom for Cava pricing, especially in the US market. This, in turn, has led to the reality that most Cavas that make it to the US are not from organic farms like Can Fontanals. Rather, they are industrially produced from an anonymous base wine purchased cheaply from the local cooperative, re-fermented and aged for the bare-minimum time required (9 months), and adorned with a fantasy label, from a winery which does not exist. This is the situation in which serious Cava producers find themselves today, a reality which only serves to drive the resourceful Esteve-Nadal family to push their quality standards higher each vintage, setting themselves in bold contrast to companies who do not farm their own fruit or even know the origin of their grapes.
Such is the dedication to quality at Avinyó that the minimum aging for their "entry-level" Reserva cuvée is 24 months, with many of their bottlings receiving at least 36 months of time on the lees. Each shipment of wines is disgorged on-demand for refrigerated transport to the US, so flavors are always fresh and vibrant. In addition to being produced solely from organically certified (since 2019) estate-grown grapes and with extended lees-aging in bottle, all Avinyó Cava is from a single-vintage, clearly labeled on the bottle. No reserve solera wine is used here to alter either the expression of the vineyard or correct for a "house-style." Avinyó is about transparency. Today, the next generation of the Esteve-Nadal family is at the helm, refining innovation while respecting tradition. Four siblings (Xavier, Luis, Pedro Juan, and Ana) blend tradition, technology, and a relentless pursuit of quality to make their distinctive wines. In the family tradition, we can expect excellence for generations to come.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
A superior source of white grapes for the production of Spain’s prized sparkling wine, Cava, the Penedes region is part of Catalunya and sits just south of Barcelona. Medio Penedès is the most productive source of the Cava grapes, Macabeo, Xarel-lo, and Parellada. Penedes also grows Garnacha and Tempranillo (here called Ull de Llebre in Catalan), for high quality reds and rosès.