Fine and ecological bubbles for San Juan

San Juan is approaching, the night of bubbles. That's why this Sunday and the next—even if it's already passed—we'll be drinking sparkling wines.

Cristophe Marquet is the commercial director and member of the management committee of a cooperative in the Penedès region: Covides. We like cooperatives, we can't deny it. He's an agricultural engineer, studying in France, but came to Barcelona to study business at Esade. After graduation, he worked in a pharmaceutical company, but he didn't feel the need. For eleven years, he was with the Moët Hennessy group, and in 2005, he joined the cooperative. It's the largest in Catalonia, with 600 members. They have their own vineyards and harvest their own crops. They don't buy base wine.

Terra Terrae is the sparkling wine, from organic vineyards (and the cooperative has been working organically for a long time) that aims to make us think about the planet, about space. The label, in fact, features the cosmos. Being an organic wine, everything around it is organic as well. The paper on this beautifully illustrated label is "stone paper." They don't use any trees or water. It's a hard-to-find cava, and that's why we recommend it. It's only sold in restaurants and specialty stores. Never in supermarkets. Above all, it's exported. It goes to the Nordic countries, Finland, Denmark, Japan, the United States... and to Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, and the Valencian Community.

Classic Varieties

It's, of course, a cava with our three classic varieties. But Xarelo dominates. It undergoes long aging. While the young Brut is required by the DO to age nine months, yours age fourteen. The Dirty Reserve age between twenty and twenty-two months. Sometimes longer, depending on what suits you. On the nose, you'll find pastries, nuts... All the aromas of this aging. They're very gastronomic cavas. The Dirty Reserve is for rice dishes. The Dirty Reserve is for strong meats, a roast, ribs... The key to this sparkling wine is San Juan and New Year's.

If we continue with the aromas, we'll find, apart from that, white fruit, apple, pear. On the palate, it's persistent, which is something you wouldn't ask for your partner, but you would ask for a cava. The bubbles are fine, understandably coming from the magic of the traditional method. "We're the fifth or sixth largest cava producer in Catalonia, far behind the top three, which work with foreign capital, but we're starting to become a big company."

To gaze at the cosmos, look into each other's eyes, and toast. To swig the glasses. That's my idea of civilization.

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