D.O. Cava, Spain

 

THE WINERY

Mestres’ first documents as wine négociant are dated all the way back to 1312 and still have documents dated in 1567. In 1607, we found documents as vine growers and owners showing the vineyard, Heretat Mas Coquet. In the 1600’s, they started building the actual winery in Sant Sadurni d'Anoia, Penedes, Spain, which was finished in 1861. They are still owned by the 30th generation of the family: Mestres. 

​

Mestres family was the first producer to register the word CAVA, in 1959 by Joseph Mestres. This was to inform the consumer that this was a sparkling wine, aged in a cellar, using the words "wines made in cellar" (vins de cava). They were also the first ones to produce a cava “non-dosage” in 1945, Visol (translating to: only wine).

​

Mestres only uses the traditional grapes of their terroir: Xarel-lo, Parellada, and Macabeu. All of them are hand harvested on their own 74 acres of vineyards, situated at 690 feet above sea level, some of the oldest vineyards in the area. 

To protect their patrimony, no insecticides, or herbicides, are used at the vineyard, and pruning is carried out to reduce their vigor. Therefore, grapes are produced of greater ripeness and intensity.

​

Today, they still use traditional methods taught by their ancestors, including long aging in caves, the youngest of their wines, aged 20 months. All of the wines in their cellar are Reserva or Gran Reserva.

​

Mestres wines are aged under natural cork and riddling is all done by hand. During the wines long aging, the cork allows for a slight oxidation into the wines giving them a rounder mouth feel and depth on the palate. The bottles are slowly turned on the riddling rack until the next is facing down and the yeast settles in the neck of the bottle. The yeasts are then “dégorgéd” after the designated aging period for the wine. Dégorging is done by hand for all bottles, to ensure the highest quality.

​

Nothing has changed at Mestres since they produced their first bottle of Cava, and you can taste the respect for their terroir and authenticity in their wines.

​

​

THE WINES