NV Cavas Hill

NV Cavas Hill Cuvee 1887 Brut

Who: The Hill Family
What: 50% Xarel-lo, 35% Macabeo, 15% Parellada
Where: Penedes, Spain
Tastes Like: Fresh, clean, and dry, with lots of small bubbles.
Pairs With:  Literally everything.

The Where:
Penedès is a Spanish Denominación de Origen (DO) for wines in Catalonia, southeast Spain. Penedès DO includes all Penedès region and municipalities of four other counties: Anoia, Alt Camp, Baix Llobregat, and Tarragonès. The area is framed by the coastal hills of the Garraf Massif and the higher inland mountains which skirt the Central Depression.

Long considered one of the country's best wine-producing regions after the Rioja, it is also one of the most ancient viticultural areas in Europe. According to archaeological evidence, wine production in the Penedès has ancient origins, certainly dating back to the Phoenician introduction of Chardonnay vines during the 6th century BC. A large export market is known to have existed even through Moorish occupation in the Middle Ages. Eighteenth century Spanish expansion into South America generated an unprecedented demand for Penedès wines which has barely abated since.  The region did not escape the pan-European devastation of the phylloxera plague, one effect of which was a large-scale change in the predominant grape types from red to almost exclusively white, which in turn led to the first Cava production in the 1870s. Since then, red varietals have regained some ground but remain a relatively minor part of regional production.

The Who: The land owned by Cavas Hill was purchased by Jonas Hill in 1761, with the winery dating back to 1877. Construction of the unique, underground wine cellars began in 1924, consisting of 5 galleries hewn from the local “tapassot” bedrock.  In 1926 the family laid down the first bottle of Cava, made in the Methode Champenoise but using native grapes such as macabeo, xarel-lo, and parellada.  The family maintains a meticulous, hands-on, traditional wine making practice to this day.

Cavas Hill produces 2 lines of cava: he Cuvee Panot and the Cuvee 1887, with the latter being in line with the traditional fruity, round style of sparkling wine preferred prior to WWII.  We carry the 1887, which uses only the native grapes.  It is aged for 12 months on the lees before disgorgement, giving it a lovely hint of age overlying the the fresh, green aromatics.