LA REINVENCIÓN DEL CAVA

The leading Spanish wine in international markets despite the pandemic, in 2021 Cava restructured in order to meet new demands and provide guarantees of origin and quality.

Javier Pagés, President of the D.O. Cava Regulatory Board, took us through the strategy.

Resilience

Resilience. Apparently, Cava bubbles also have resilience. That is what they demonstrated throughout the hardest year, 2020. The latest news proves just that: despite the effects of the COVID 19 crisis, the Spanish sparkling wine showed its muscle, demonstrating that it is still the most popular Spanish wine in international markets, with a volume of 152 million bottles sold. That figure represents just a 7.92% drop compared to a “normal” year like 2019. Of course, in some markets they have been popping open even more bottles of Cava during this catastrophic pandemic year. These markets include the United Kingdom (+6.55%), Russia (+17.47%), Lithuania (+16.73%), Sweden (+12%), Finland (+11.83%) and the Netherlands (+9.93%). However, Spain saw quite a big drop in sales: 12.3% according to data from consulting firm A.C. Nielsen. “We are a country of restaurants, hotels, and tourism; we like to go out and share experiences, and we associate the consumption of Cava, as well as other types of wine, with social activity and public life,” explains Javier Pagés, who has presided over the D.O. Cava Regulatory Board since 2018.

Lockdown treats

Obviously, the closures and restrictions placed on the hospitality industry (hotels, restaurants and cafés), as well as limitations on geographic mobility hurt consumption in the domestic market. Above all, because Spaniards, like it or not, still associate the consumption of sparkling wines with celebrations, which are not so common in a period of pandemic and lockdown. “Although even in circumstances like