Freixenet Casa Sala Cava Gran Reserva Brut Nature 2006
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2005-
James
Suckling
Freixenet (pronounced "fresh-eh-net"), best known for its "black bottle bubbly" Cordon Negro, is a family-owned company that grew from humble beginnings in rural Catalunya. The roots of Freixenet stretch back to 1861 and are embedded in the history of two longstanding winemaking families, the Ferrers and the Salas, whose expertise, determination and ingenuity intertwined to form the foundation of the company that today is the world leader in sparkling wines. The proof, as they say, is in the bottle: today, the most often popped corks in the world say "Freixenet."
Winemaker Josep Bujan is the Technical Director for the Freixenet winery since 1980, Bujan is responsible for developing and refining the technical procedures that have allowed methode champenoise production of Freixenet cavas to soar to over one million bottles per year. A frequent enological lector and leader in the community of vintners in Catalunya through his work with a great number of professional wine societies, Bujan is also known for his writing. With the formation of a magazine to the publication of his book on sensory analysis, Bujan has established himself as one of Spain's most active enologists.
A term typically reserved for Champagne and Sparkling Wines, non-vintage or simply “NV” on a label indicates a blend of finished wines from different vintages (years of harvest). To make non-vintage Champagne, typically the current year’s harvest (in other words, the current vintage) forms the base of the blend. Finished wines from previous years, called “vins de reserve” are blended in at approximately 10-50% of the total volume in order to achieve the flavor, complexity, body and acidity for the desired house style. A tiny proportion of Champagnes are made from a single vintage.
There are also some very large production still wines that may not claim one particular vintage. This would be at the discretion of the winemaker’s goals for character of the final wine.
A superior source of white grapes for the production of Spain’s prized sparkling wine, Cava, the Penedes region is part of Catalunya and sits just south of Barcelona. Medio Penedès is the most productive source of the Cava grapes, Macabeo, Xarel-lo, and Parellada. Penedes also grows Garnacha and Tempranillo (here called Ull de Llebre in Catalan), for high quality reds and rosès.