Pere Mata "l'Origen" 2019 Cava Gran Reserva DO Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, Spain

750ml bottle

12% abv

Cava Gran Reserva Brut produced at Bodega Mata i Coloma in Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, Catalunya, is crafted from Macabeu and Xarel·lo grapes. The wine highlights the region’s traditional sparkling wine techniques and reflects the unique terroir of Catalunya.

Grapes: 60% Macabeu – 40% Xarello 

Composition: 100% from 2019 Vintage 

Soils: Slate, quartz, and anthracite

Farming: Organic farming practices are employed with grapes hand-picked and vineyards managed 100% organically over 5 hectares.

Winemaking: Primary fermentation in stainless steel tank. Secondary fermentation occurs in bottle.

Aging: The wine was aged on lees for 45 months, disgorged April 2024.

Dosage: Brut – approx. 4g/L

A wine meant to reflect the origins of Cava – using only co-fermented Macabeu and Xarello, as was done with the first wines of Cava. The fruit is very precise and the acidity balances the dosage nicely. Very easy to drink. 

It is not a coincidence that Mata i Coloma, owned by winemaker Pere Mata, draws a lot of comparisons to the small Grower Champagne producers in France. Pere, who used to make wines and consult for larger producers, decided to strike out on his own in 2000 to make his first Cavas with Grower Champagne as the model. His commitment to quality borders on the obsessive (he vacations in Champagne and regularly visits producers there), and he, along with a handful of other small Cava growers, is at the forefront of a similar revolution in quality that Champagne has experienced over the past 20 years.

In a region dominated by massive producers buying grapes from hundreds of growers, Pere is a very small domain focused on estate-bottling. He organically farms 5 hectares (organic since 2007 and currently being certified) of vines in Sant Sadurní d’Anoia and works with only the traditional varieties of Xarello, Macabeo, and Parellada. All work is done by hand and the vines are nearly 30 years on average. In the cellar, Pere is constantly striving to learn, tweak, and improve the quality of his wines. He releases finite amounts (usually around 500 cs) of numbered “Cupadas” for his non-vintage cuvees. Each new Cupada will contain slight adjustments from the previous Cupada, and once a Cupada is finished, the next one is released. In terms of dosage, Pere is firmly in the Brut Nature camp. Almost all of his cuvees have zero dosage, giving the wines a striking purity. Only free run juice is used (for each kilo of grapes only the first 50 cl of juice are used) and all wines are aged a minimum of 24 months with his top wines being aged over 48 months. These are Cavas of real depth and interest of which Cédric Bouchard remarked “these could hold their own in a tasting with Champagnes”.