CHRISTIMAS AND CAVA 

With just a few days left before the start of the Christmas, New Year’s and Epiphany holidays, preparations begin, and among them all, the daily and nightly menus and festive events stand out.
Thinking of starters, a main course and desserts that please everyone is today more difficult than in the past, when there were no vegetarians, vegans, people with intolerances in all their variations, and other preferences and whims. Nowadays, planning one or several menus and satisfying everyone at our table is an arduous and demanding task.
If we also want to pair everything with wines and sparkling wines, it's quite an accomplishment.

Spain is a country rich in gastronomy, but also very diverse, with notable differences in tastes and preferences depending on the region, although fish, seafood and lamb remain the star dishes, cooked in a thousand and one different ways that give them the distinctive character of each area. When entering the kitchen… may God grant us luck!
Sparkling wines produced in Spain also reflect this diversity and variety… let’s talk a bit about them:

In Catalonia, the main historical production area, we can find Cava made from the typical varieties Xarel·lo, Macabeo and Parellada, and it can be:
Brut Nature, 0–3 g/l sugar: a dry and elegant cava that pairs well with seafood and Iberian ham.
Brut, up to 12 g/l: balanced and versatile, pairing well with roast chicken, paella or sushi.
Semi-dry / sweet, ideal for foie, blue cheeses or soft nougat.

If we consider the ageing time, the more complex cavas, aged more than 15 months, pair well with creamy rice dishes and white meats.
Gran Reserva, aged more than 30 months, goes well with suckling pig, lamb or milk-fed lamb.
Cava de Paraje Calificado, high-end wines from unique vineyards, can be served with baked sea bass or poularde.

Sparkling wines under the Corpinnat designation differ from cavas by being 100% organic, with long ageing and manual harvesting.
Additionally, to complete the collection, there is Clàssic Penedès, also 100% organic with a minimum ageing of 15 months.

Today we wanted to give a few brushstrokes with some suggestions… from here on, each person will surely add their own touch to make it more personal and more special.
With all of them, we can make as many combinations as there are palates.