Cava Academy launches in London

The Consejo Regulador DO Cava is celebrating the first graduates of its London Cava Academy who graduated at the beginning of this week in front of dignitaries including the Spanish ambassador.

The three-day training programme was attended by a group of sommeliers from restaurants across the UK, including one student from Oslo in Norway.

The three students who scored the highest in the theory and tasting exam – Heidi Mäkinen, assistant sommelier, 67 Pall Mall; Filippo Carnevale, senior sommelier, The Ritz, and Victor Pinheiro de Almedia, head sommelier, Aquavit – received an all-expenses paid trip to the region.

Lecturers on the course included Lenka Sedlackova MW; Fernando Mora MW; Sarah Jane Evans MW; Richard Hemming MW; Matthieu Longuere MS; and Silvia Grimaldo, communications director, DO Cava.

Speaking at the event, president of DO Cava, Pedro Bonet, said: “The Cava Academy has been a very successful initiative by the DO Cava and we have been delighted with the response from some the UK’s leading sommeliers that have wanted to take part”.

After the success of the London event, the regulatory body hopes to role out the programme in other countries including Belgium, Holland and Germany.