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SPAIN<br />
APPELLATION<br />
this particular bodega has always favoured quality over quantity. Although 2023 was a<br />
year of “climate challenges”, as Langa González points out, it also produced particularly<br />
healthy, good quality fruit due to lack of rainfall preventing the spread of diseases such<br />
as downy and powdery mildew. These conditions proved felicitous for crafting wines<br />
with unique character. “We will have wines in styles that we have never seen before. This<br />
is the very essence of winemaking, which is to try and transpose the true expressiveness<br />
of the site into the glass”.<br />
Obviously drought also led to a fall in production – roughly 15% on last year – adds<br />
Langa González, “but fortunately rainfall in September slightly improved the situation”.<br />
The consequences will become tangible in the future – “we will have less Cava over the<br />
coming years” – but in some ways, this is “the natural law of our business”. In actual<br />
fact, despite being relatively small, the bodega has significant inventories of Guarda<br />
Superior Cavas, matured for over 18 months, one of which is its 2018 ‘Reyes de Aragon’<br />
made from the 2018 harvest.<br />
But how about the impact on prices? Some Cavas have increased their prices and done<br />
away with promotions to avoid any inventory shortages, points out Langa González.<br />
This new situation is also compounded by regulatory changes recently applied to the<br />
Cava appellation, leading to a repositioning of many Cavas in national and international<br />
EVERY YEAR, BODEGAS LANGA ENSURES IT SETS ASIDE AS MANY OF ITS FINEST BASE<br />
WINES AS POSSIBLE FOR ITS STOCKS OF CAVAS SUPERIORS<br />
106 WINTER 2023 • GILBERT & GAILLARD - THE FRENCH EXPERTS ON WINE