Spanish sparkling wine, cava, is finally reaping the rewards of being marketed for the last 30 years as good value for money.
Exports of cava zoomed ahead, rising from 10 million bottles in 1980 to 155 million last year. That was the sixth year in a row when foreign sales of cava outstripped those of its rival, French champagne, which exported 145 million bottles in 2014.
Cava producers now are focussing marketing attention on the more expensive reserve cavas. Out of all the bottles exported in 2014, only eight million were these premium cavas.
"We conquered the world with standard cavas. Now we are going to conquer it again with superior quality cavas," according to an association of producers.
Its head, Pere Guilera, said prices remain low. A reserve costs about €20 a bottle, but this can be three times less than a champagne of similar quality. Best quality cava reserve can be aged for as long as 12 years.
Cava comes from the Alt Penedes area, just south of Barcelona.
"Cava still has some way to go to improve its image in the high-end," said Pedro Bonet, at the well-known producer Freixenet, who said producers have been working on this for the last few years.
The company is seeking to expand further in emerging markets and especially in Asia where customers "value quality and are willing to pay a price for it," he said, pointing out that Japan is the second-largest importer of premium cava.
Producers are promoting the sparkling wine at meetings and among opinion leaders while also capitalising on their proximity to the highly visited regional capital, Barcelona, by pushing wine tourism.
