Winemaker Notes
The blend is dominated by Xarel·lo and Chardonnay, both grapes contributing to a high acidity that allow this wine to age beautifully. The Macabeo provides the fruitiness, while the Parellada fills in the delicate aromas. The most distinctive trait of Juvé & Camps Gran Reserva is its bright aromas after so many years of ageing. Hints of white flowers and stone fruit are followed by notes of a long-aged sparkling wine: brioche, toasted flavors, spices, and honey. The tiny, abundant bubbles that rise up in streams to form a consistent crown. The Chardonnay contributes to the creamy mouthfeel and the Xarel·lo to the elegance and long finish. Exquisitely balanced, this dry cuvée is expressive, intense, complex, and fresh, a harmony of endless sensations.
Gran Juvé will pair well with red meat, fish and baked goods.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
For years Juvé y Camps has been the leading innovator in the quest for top quality and identity in Cava. With this wine they show their mastery in blending in order to create a distinctive style. Bright straw colour, with intense brioche, apple and citrus fruit notes. The best thing in this wine is the balance; it keeps fresh and joyful, but offers nice complexity and depth. Round and mellow, distinctively Cava. A great name.
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Wine & Spirits
Austere scents of chamomile flowers and sweet wheat lend this wine flavor clarity. Its structural stamina looks to a meaty dish, like white beans with veal sausages.
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Wine Spectator
Sleek and well-spiced, with ground anise, white pepper and cardamom providing a zesty edge to flavors of cherry liqueur, singed orange peel, blanched almond and dried mint. Mouthwatering and expressive, this is an intriguing sparkler to sip, but the concentration and harmony recommend this to a range of light meat or poultry dishes. Long, salty finish.
Juvé & Camps is a family-owned winery located in San Sadurní d’Anoia, a small town in the northeastern Penedès region near Barcelona. Founded in 1921 by Joan Juvé Baqués and his wife Teresa Camps Farré, the winery’s three-generation history has resulted in an international reputation for producing top-quality Cava. Juvé & Camps comprises 2700 acres of vineyards. Those acres are divided into three properties where native varieties Parellada, Macabeo and Xarel-lo are grown. From the beginning, the winery’s philosophy has been to use only traditional, high-quality winemaking practices. Its Cava is made in the método tradicional, as is Champagne, meaning it undergoes a secondary, in-bottle fermentation prompted by the addition of yeast and sugar. The wines are often aged in bottle for 18 months or more.
Representing the topmost expression of a Champagne house, a vintage Champagne is one made from the produce of a single, superior harvest year. Vintage Champagnes account for a mere 5% of total Champagne production and are produced about three times in a decade. Champagne is typically made as a blend of multiple years in order to preserve the house style; these will have non-vintage, or simply, NV on the label. The term, "vintage," as it applies to all wine, simply means a single harvest year.
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.