reborn the cava war?. After several years of calm between Codorniu and Freixenet, the two large groups in the sector, whose shareholders have varied since their struggle in the 1990s, tension has returned and is reflected in the elections to the Regulatory Council which will be held on July 6.
Codorníu, whose main shareholder is currently Carlyle, with 64% of the capital and has members of the Raventós family as minority shareholders; and ‘Viticultors del Cava’, the joint candidacy of Unió de Pagesos; Young Farmers and Farmers of Catalonia; and l’Associació de Viticultores del Penedès have come together to promote measures that contribute to the valorization of the appellation of origin (DO) Cava. It is an unprecedented alliance between different agents in the sector.
value and quality
Sergio Fuster, CEO of Codorniu, rejects the idea of conflict with the great rival. “The world of cava should be united. For me, the competitor is champagne,” he assures EL PERIÓDICO. In any case, he affirms that his company is committed to “value and quality throughout the chain. And -he adds-, two paths may be opening in the denomination of origin (DO) cava”.
Due to the system that works in these elections, Codorniu has reduced its production volume and, therefore, is left out of the governing bodies of the Regulatory Council for the first time. Fuster assures that his alliance with the sector is not directly linked to the elections, although it reflects a different way of seeing the DO. The regulatory council in recent years has lost some of its partners who created the joint brand Corpinnat.
This union has come about as a result of knowing the will of Freixenet, in which the Ferrer family and the Germans of Henkell share ownership, of make cava standards more flexible. That goes in the opposite direction to what his great rival winery defends. And, a week before the elections, the winery that was owned by the Raventós and the coalition of winegrowers have agreed to “promote the main measures that the candidacy defends.”
The objective is “to help lay the foundations to ensure the sustainability of the farms in the area, “creating value in the territory and helping to guarantee its future”. Both Codorníu and ‘Viticultors del Cava’ share the desire to “ensure to preserve the reputation and quality of the cava brand and, at the same time, protect the groups that make it up”. Among its objectives are the development of a study of the production costs of the grape, which establishes the bases of the price per hectare for the production of cava.
Multi-year contracts
Another of the measures that are proposed consists of a voluntary commitment between the processing companies and the farmers and a seal that certifies, for the wineries that prove it, that they pay above the prices of the validated cost study. They also advocate promoting multi-year contracts between the wineries and the winegrowers, as Codorniu did in 2019 to guarantee the sustainability of the farms.
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The joint candidacy, which bears the name ‘Futur, Preu, Valor’, commits to measures along these lines. Fuster underlines that this year, 100% of the grapes harvested by Codorniu “will already be organic as a result of the multi-year contracts signed with families of winegrowers in the area.” These contracts establish a minimum price of 44 cents, but the superior and ecological grape, for example, will rise this year by 15%, to 51 cents.
Codorniu assures that it has been a pioneer since 2019 in stable five-year agreements with organic grape producers. This year it will offer new multi-annual contracts to 100 families of winegrowers from Penedès (400 hectares). In total, these wineries estimate that they will contribute 9.6 million turnover to the Penedès territory this year, 15% more than in 2021, distributed among 300 families of winegrowers in the area.