The Cava Regulatory Board promotes sustainability and innovation for the 2019 harvest

The Cava Regulatory Board promotes technological innovation and sustainability when supervising the guarantee and traceability standards of cava during the 2019 harvest, which is currently developing. Several actions have been taken according to the DO Cava Strategic Plan that includes a deeper control on regulation and guarantee of the DO Cava seal as one of its main axis.

During the harvest campaign the Cava Regulatory Board proceeds to verify the fulfillment of the Harvest Rules which are settled down every year by the Board in order to improve the DO’s quality. With this aim, the Cava Regulatory Board has increased the number of checkers on site, from 18 to 70. According to the Secretary General of DO Cava, Alexandre Comellas, these checkers “verify the entry of grapes in each cellar, its origin and the fulfillment of the quality requirements collected in the DO Cava specifications document”.

In addition, the Cava Regulatory Board has announced a smartphone app designed specifically to help the harvest checkers to transmit in real time the grape entry data at the cellars. This app is going to allow a more efficient action by the DO Cava inspectors when something goes wrong in order to guarantee the origin and traceability of the grapes destined to produce cava.

Also, the DO Cava is providing the checkers with five full electric cars to cover their travels. Alexandre Comellas explains that this measure will allow them to cover “around 60% of their travels during the harvest campaign and will provide a reduction of 50% in travel costs for the DO”.

This initiative is being made possible through a collaboration agreement between the Cava Regulatory Board, MEC Carsharing and Nissan in order to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants during the checkers’ travels.

The DO Cava predicts the 2019 harvest to be similar to the previous year in quality, although it is yet to early to advance a figure, according to Luis Marco, Technical Director of the Cava Regulatory Board. “Right now the health of grapes is good, with moderate alcohol content and good acid levels, which predicts an excellent quality for the cavas”, he said.