Blue ‘Cava’ comes to the UK

We’ve had a blue wine from Bierzo and a blue Prosecco, and now English entrepreneur Chris Arbery has launched a blue ‘Cava’ in the UK called Skyfall.

Skyfall Gran Reserva is made in the traditional method from Cava grapes

Made from a blend of Macabeu, Parellada, Xarel-lo and Chardonnay, Skyfall Gran Reserva is produced in Sant Sadurni d’Anoia in Penedès but can’t be called a Cava as it’s blue.

According to Arbery, the traditional method sparkler gets its turquoise hue from a blend of natural flower and fruit extracts, which are added after fermentation. No artificial colours or dyes are used.

Was Skyfall inspired by Mariah Carey’s Champagne brand Angel?

Bottles of the 12% abv Skyfall Gran Reserva are hand riddled and aged for three years before release. The wine is described as being “fresh, crisp and fruity”.

Arbery is currently in talks with UK restaurants and bars to try to win listings. In the meantime bottles can be bought from the Skyfall website for £39.99 – yes, that’s £39.99 for one bottle.

“We’re extremely excited about launching Skyfall, a unique and innovative new product. The feedback we’ve had from the industry has been overwhelmingly positive and we’re looking forward to seeing the immediate impact Skyfall will have on the UK market,” Arbery said.

“We’re confident that the attention to detail in both the artisanal production methods used and the overall presentation of the finished bottle will ensure that Skyfall Gran Reserva quickly establishes itself as a premium product,” he added.

The fizz launched in Spain in May and Arbery believes it will be a hit in the UK as consumers are always on the lookout for daringly different drinks.

The sparkler shares a name with the 2012 Bond film starring Daniel Craig and Javier Bardem, which Adele sung the theme tune for. We think it bares a striking resemblance to Mariah Carey’s Champagne brand Angel.

This isn’t the first time blue wine has hit the headlines. In 2015, six entrepreneurs caused a storm in a wine glass with the launch of the world’s first blue wine, called Gik, made in the Spanish wine region of Bierzo.

A base wine is created from red and white grapes, then anthocyanin and indigo pigments are added to turn it blue and the wine is softened with sweeteners.

Spanish authorities have drawn upon European legislation to ban the entrepreneurs from describing Gik as a ‘wine’, based on the fact that there is no “blue wine” category within EU legislation.

This May Blumond, a 7% abv ‘wine’ made from a blend of Prosecco, blue curaçao and peach sparked outrage in Italy, where it was called an “insult” to tradition by Wladimiro Gobbo, a member of Italy’s Sommelier Association.

“It’s embarrassing. These are not wines but coloured liquids, dumb-downed hybrids with a watered-down percentage of alcohol,” he said.