Cava production process

Drawing off

The traditional method, also named the “champenoise” method, describes the inevitable steps for achieving Cava.

This production process begins with the tirage or drawing off, which are all the operations that lead to the bottling of the wine, having added the drawn off liquid, a mixture of sugar, wine and yeast, intended to cause the second fermentation inside the bottle and the resulting formation of foam.

Immediately afterwards, the bottles must be placed in underground premises, cool and at a constant temperature, in a horizontal position, which is called en rima or in stacks, and it is in this phase that the second fermentation occurs as well as the ageing that follows.

During the second fermentation, the yeast works on the sugar and transforms it into tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide. This is because the process is very slow and is caused at temperatures of no more than 15 degrees centigrade.

The legal minimum required for the fermentation and ageing is nine months, although most cava wineries leave the Cava far more time in the underground cellars.

Turning

When the ageing is complete, the solatge, or the sediment produced by the second fermentation, lies on the side of the bottle, and must be eliminated. So the bottles are placed on inclined racks called pupitres and the remoguda, or turning, begins, an operation that consists of turning the bottles and eighth of a turn each day and gradually increasing their inclination.

This process may last thirty days, after which the bottles are almost vertical with the sediment having moved to the crown cap.

Necking - degollament

Having completed the turning, the bottles are taken out of the rack and are placed upside down, top down, until the time the sediment is removed, an operation that is called degollament in the language of the region.

Traditionally, this was an operation that was performed with heat, which required great precision from the operator performing the tasks, a person called a desgorjador. However, today the bottles are placed in a machine that freezes the necks of the bottles and the frozen sediment is easily removed.

To achieve the different types of Cava, different qualities of licor d’expedició or dosage may be added, a liqueur consisting of a mixture of wine and sugar.

With the necking process, part of the content is lost and it is usually necessary to top up the bottle with the same product.

The bottles must then be immediately stopped with the final cork, which is called the tap d’expedició or delivery cap, held in place with a wire basket called a morrió or wire cap, or with a clasp, to proceed then to the capping, labelling and packing.