Can I have a glass of corpinnat please?

Corpinnat, dear readers, is the new cava. The region's top producers are tired of having to fight the large, industrial power of the Grandes Marques de Cava and launched the Corpinnat label in early 2019.

TL;dr – listen to our podcast about corpinnat

We owe the arrival of cava to the French and phylloxera. French winemakers, forced to source their grapes from the south to ensure they could still produce something. The heart of the Penedès, San Sadurni d'Anoia, was a favorite. It took some time, but in 1975, the Dénominacion d'Origine Cava was established.

Today, 252 million bottles are produced, with production dominated by three players: Freixenet, Cordorníu, and García Carrión. Their motto? Fast, cheap, and abundant. This has significantly altered the image of cava. If two hundred million bottles of mediocre or okay: bad If cava contains cava, how do you extract its best qualities? I recently heard someone—a complete wine nitwit, but a good fit for this story—say that, in his opinion, cava is still below prosecco. My heart broke.

We started a club…

If this is the average consumer's perception, how can a cava producer stand out? This question seemed to preoccupy many top producers. Raventos I Blanc was the first to put its words into action and leave the DO in 2012. That's a bold move, but Raventos I Blanc has already won enough hearts of wine fans, so sales are likely to be good. So, no DO, the winery labels the wine as Vino de la Tierra Conca del Riu Anoia.

Such a move isn't within the reach of every producer. A DO Cava isn't just a designation of origin; it also provides the necessary promotional opportunities. The question is, however, whether that's still worthwhile with so much noise on the line. Perhaps an additional label, or perhaps a different DO? It ended up being both.

Corpinnat for sparkling wines

In early 2019, Corpinnat was launched, a brand for sparkling wines produced in the heart of the Penedès region. It was founded by nine producers: Gramona, Sabaté i Coca, Mas Candí, Ilopart, Torelló, Nadal, Can Feixes, Recaredo, and Julia Bernet. Not only is the origin established, but other rules regarding viticulture and winemaking also apply:

75% of the grapes must come from the wine’s own vineyards.
For purchased grapes, a minimum price of 0.70 euro cents per kilo applies (average price is 0.40 euro cents per kilo).
A corpinnat must consist of 90% local grape varieties (xarel lo, macabeo, parellada, malvasia, grenache, monastrell, sumoll and xarel lo vermell) and may be supplemented with chardonnay, pinot noir or trepat.
In addition, there is a minimum maturation on the yeast cells of 18 months, as opposed to the 9 months for DO Cava, which applies to almost 90% of Cava wines.
Grapes must come from 100% organically farmed vineyards and must be harvested by hand.
Vinification must take place entirely in the winery and may therefore not be outsourced.

Theoretically, this brand name could easily fall under the DO Cava umbrella. An extra label on the bottle if you meet the above requirements. But that's precisely what those three big giants are. offside to make.

A minor detail is that the president of Cordorníu is also the head of DO Cava. The final score: Corpinnat could not be used in conjunction with DO Cava. This was reason enough for the nine producers to resign!

Bye bye Cava, hello Corpinnat!

One last word

While I completely understand the nine producers, I wonder where Agusti Torello Mata (my absolute favorite) has remained in this story? Not to be confused with Torelló-Can Martí, which is included. I checked with the importer (Pallas Wine). Agusti Torello was involved in the development of the Cava legislation and therefore doesn't want to leave the DO just like that. They're trying to change the legislation from within. And that's not easy. Journalist Josep Forns Varias even wrote a book about it: Cava, where are you headed?

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