Bar Cart: Segura Viudas Brut Reserve Cava
A captivating cava to stock your wine cellar with this summer.
Not as glitzy (or expensive) as champagne, nor as cheap and cheerful as prosecco, when it comes to bubbly, cava is just right. Made primarily in Spain’s Penedès winemaking region, not far from Barcelona, cava includes grapes native to the region that lend a welcome rusticity to its wines, a quality now finally being appreciated by serious wine drinkers and world-class wineries. And while it often falls closer to prosecco in price, good cava, made in the same traditional method as champagne, has the quality and complexity that has long been associated with sparkling wines from the more heralded French region.
With a history stretching back to the 11th century, Segura Viudas is one of the most notable producers of cava in the Penedès region. Having developed its knowledge over the intervening centuries, Segura Viudas makes its wines using a combination of traditional techniques and innovative technologies. The winery is certified by both Biosphere Commitment and Wineries for Climate Protection, so the brand’s efforts in its vineyards focus on protecting biodiversity as as well as producing the best possible grapes for the wines.
Segura Viudas’ upper tier reserva cava is one that in many ways epitomizes the denomination’s high-quality potential. It is delivered in a stunning bottle embossed with a metal crest on its neck and a ring around its base, its heft marking the wine inside as something worth protecting. That wine is made of 67 per cent macabeo and 33 per cent parellada—two of cava’s three traditional grapes—and produced using the traditional (champagne) method. While both grapes are humble in comparison to the chardonnay, pinot noir, and pinot meunier used in champagne, the light bubbles and heady floral and brioche notes make for a wine ideal for drinking alone or pairing with food, and just right for any occasion.
