Foto: CRC	Ampliar

Hundreds of citizens and tourists in Barcelona have gathered today to celebrate the cava harvest at the Born neighborhood. Citizens and passers-by could enjoy a free cup of cava and an appetizer in different bars of this well-known area in Barcelona.


The Cava Regulatory Board placed a photocall with the silouette of a cava bottle at the walls of Santa María del Mar church inviting citizens to take a photo of themselves 'inside' the bottle. Then, they got a code to download their photo from the Facebook page of the Cava Regulatory Board, www.facebook.com/crcava At the same time, they were invited to enjoy an appetizer with a cava cup and a starter.

The bars participating in this initiative were La Vinya del Senyor, La Lonja de Tapas, Euskal Etxea, Golfo de Bizkaia and Celler de la Ribera, all of them located near the Santa María del Mar church in Barcelona.

The chairman of the Cava Regulatory Board, Gustavo García Guillamet, explained today that this is the first time the Cava Harvest Party is held in Barcelona, an initiative that is celebrated simultaneously at Madrid's Plaza Mayor, where thousands of citizens could enjoy also a free cup of cava and an appetizer. Guillamet also highlighted that the Cava Regulatory Board intends to take this initiative to other Spanish cities, such as Seville and Bilbao, in the near future.

The cava harvest, which ended this week, has been shorter than usual. High spring temperatures aroused earlier the vineyards from the winter stop, and the vegetative period was reduced in almost 10 days to the historic average. The harvest began on 2nd August and, depending on grapes varieties, it has ended almost a week before the usual time.

The chairman of the Cava Regulatory Board said this year's warm temperatures have been very good, as the grapes "had an excellent health". Guillamet also pointed out that this year's harvest "has collected almost 300 million kilograms of grapes".

In addition, the maturing phase for the different grapes varieties has been consistent and its collection was made according to the characteristics of the grapes, depending on its sourness and alcoholic strenght. These good practises in the selection of grapes have allowed to obtain really optimum musts. "We should highlight that cava wines are obtained from the mix of different grape varieties which bring their own characteristics that strenghthen and complement the properties of the other grapes", explained García Guillamet. "This allow us to discover new features in cavas every year", he added.

The Cava Regulatory Board has 31,858 hectares of producing vineyards. The harvest started early in August with the collection of chardonnay and pinot noir varieties, followed by main grapes such as macabeo, xarel.lo and parellada.