Marques de Gelida 2002 Reserva
Penedes, Spain ($13)
In the past few months, I've gotten engaged, bought a house, and have managed to find a great value sparkling wine to toast the afore mentioned achievements. When you can't afford champagne for every celebratory uncorking, I find cava to be just what the doctor ordered. Generally less expensive than California sparklers and drier than most proseccos I've tasted, I'm rarely disappointed with the Spanish bubbly.
This particular bottle has an eye catching label, the stamp of quality from Jorge Ordonez, and it breaks the boring non vintage stereotype of cava. This 2002 is a reserva blend of 35% Maccabeo, 30% Xarel-lo, 20% Parellada, and 15% Chardonnay. There was 3000 cases produced and I assume there's not much left floating around by now.
Aromas of green apple and bread. Tight little bubbles with a pale yellow color. this wine wakes up my whole palate and refreshes with a complex spectrum of earth tones. The finish is lengthy and stimulating. By far my favorite sparkler under $15.
My grade: A-

Good quality wine can make a lot of difference, whether its white or red, I personally prefer red over white, and again it’s depends on a food and personal condition, over all I look at a quality. Here is another useful page that may be of interest to some, check it here http://www.wine-expert-101.com/Dry-Wines.php
Posted by: Michael Malega | May 10, 2007 at 04:50 AM
I love Cava too, a recent convert. I was about to buy a specific cork system to keep the bubbles fresh, but my plain old stopper seems to work just fine. Maybe thats's because I loved the Cava very, very much. Great blog!
Kathleen
Albany, NY
Wine and Stories from the Vineyard Blog - http://www.myspace.com/gamay
Posted by: Kathleen Lisson | June 13, 2007 at 07:29 PM