Torres steps back from Cava DO for long-awaited sparkler

Spanish wine producer Bodegas Torres has confirmed its long-awaited Cava that is due to hit the market at the end of the year, won’t be a Cava after all.

Miguel Torres Maczassek, who runs the company as managing director

The company has confirmed the drink will be a premium sparkling wine rather than a Cava due to “sourcing decisions” – which db understands is due to a desire to build in flexibility over future sourcing amid climate change concerns.

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A spokesman told db the decision to bow out of tying it to the Cava DO at this stage meant Torres will be able to source grapes for the sparkling wine from areas that were set to become “increasing interesting”, including higher altitude vineyards outside the DO boundaries.

The grapes used for the new sparkler have been sourced from Torres’ vineyards in the Penedès, which lie at an altitude of over 500 meters and produce wines with high-acidity.

This all forms part of Torres’s long-term battle against climate change, they added.

In April this year, Torres president and former managing director Miguel Torres Snr inferred to db that global warming was influencing decisions and he would no longer consider investing in vineyards in the south of Spain. However he had reiterated the company’s desire to keen to get into Cava production, telling db, “We’ve made Cava from a single estate in Penedès since 2013 and the first vintage tastes great.”

However a company statement today implied climate change was at least in part behind the decision. “As temperatures are gradually increasing as a result of climate change, the Torres family’s high-altitude vineyards in different parts of Catalonia can complement the production of this sparkling wine in the future, without being exclusively limited to the Penedès or other areas included in the appellation of origin Cava,” it said.

The first vintage is set to release around 36,000 bottles and is likely to retail for more than £20.

The Spanish retailer already produces a range of sparkling wines from its Chilean subsidiary, made in its Curicó winery. These comprise Cordillera Brut, made from Pinot Noir and two sparkler made from Chiles indigenous variety País, Estelado Rosé Brut and Estelado Organic Extra Brut.

The Catalan producer recently announced it was reintroducing an indigenous Catalan red grape, Moneu, that was almost wiped out by phylloxera, back into production in Penedès following trials.