The Cune Cava Brut is a non-vintage traditional-method sparkling wine from the Penedès region of northeastern Spain. Cune is a label from the CVNE winery, which was founded in 1879.
The Story
CVNE is an acronym for Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España, which translates to Wine Company of Northern Spain. A mixup caused their first wines to be labeled Cune, and the name stuck.
CVNE is best known for Rioja wine, but the Cune Cava Brut is from the Penedes section of Catalonia, where the main city is Barcelona.
The Cune Cava Brut uses the three traditional Cava grapes, Xarel·lo (40%), Parellada (30%), and Macabeo (30%).
The Bubbly is produced in the Traditional or Champagne Method, where the wine is fermented the first time. It is similar to making still wine, but here the wine is very sour or extremely dry; it will be brought up to the desired sweetness level later.
The wine is then bottled, and a measured amount of sugar and yeast is added to each bottle. In Champagne the 2nd fermentation lasts a minimum of 18 months in other places it is often closer to 12 months. Either duration gets the bubbles to incorporate into the wine.
Brut is one of the dry or non-sweet designations, and the alcohol content is 11.5%.
The Cune Cava Brut Tasting Notes
The color is a pale gold. The nose is lemon curd, brioche bread, slightly sweet and ripe peach, and Green apple. The Cune Cava Brut is crisp and balanced with good length.
This Cava Bubbly tastes like ripe apple mixed with grapefruit, lemon, peach, and pear. Nectarine, faint tangerine, and fleshy papaya.
The acidity is controlled, it does not bite, and the flavors have the structure to fully unfold.
The Summary
- The Cune Cava Brut is an excellent affordable Bubbly.
- I sometimes forget about Cava; their marketing team does not seem to be as active as Prosecco and Champagne, but Cava routinely brings outstanding Bubbly value.
- This Cava is from a winery with 150 years of experience, and it shows in the quality of the Cune Cava Brut.
