From Rioja to Catalonia: The Fascinating Story Behind Cune Cava Brut

Venture into the effervescent world of traditional Spanish sparkling wine with an affordable gem that punches well above its $11.99 price tag. The Cune Cava Brut from Catalonia delivers the elegance and complexity you'd expect from wines twice its price, all while telling a fascinating story of Spanish winemaking heritage.

This Barcelona-area bubbly begins with an unexpected twist – the producer's name itself. While we know it as "Cune" (pronounced COO-nay), the company was actually founded as CVNE (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España) in 1878. A simple printing error on early labels transformed the "V" to a "U," creating an accidental brand name that has persisted for nearly 150 years. This charming quirk is just the beginning of what makes this sparkler special.

Unlike many affordable sparkling wines, this Cava follows the same meticulous traditional method used in Champagne production, with each bottle undergoing its own secondary fermentation. The result is a refined sparkling wine with persistent tiny bubbles and perfectly balanced acidity that allows its subtle flavors to unfold gracefully. The blend of indigenous Spanish grapes (40% Xarel·lo, 30% Parellada, and 30% Macabeo) creates a distinctive profile of delicate lemon, apple, peach and subtle citrus notes that reward thoughtful sipping. For those tired of overly sharp Cavas or seeking an alternative to pricier French options, this bottle delivers remarkable quality from a producer with 150 years of winemaking expertise.

Next time you're looking for the perfect summer refreshment or an affordable luxury for your table, reach for this Spanish gem. Subscribe to hear more value wine recommendations that help you drink well without breaking the bank!

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Cune Cava Brut
• 1:01 The Cune Company History
• 2:05 Traditional Method Sparkling Wine
• 3:55 Tasting Notes and Impressions
• 5:55 Value Assessment and Conclusion

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Hello, it's Dave from CheapWineFindercom, again with another podcast for value-priced wine. This time it's a Spanish Bubbly, a Cava. It's a Cune Cava Brut. Brut means that it's in dry. There's three levels of dry and this might sound backwards, but Brut is the most sweet of the three levels of dry, which means not sweet. Cune Cava Brut.

Speaker 1: 0:30

The Cune company originated in Rioja in 1878, and their actual name is it's an acronym C-V-N-E. It stands for a wine company from northern Spain. The C is for company, the V is Vinicola, which is wine, and the E is Espanol, which is their word for Spain. We don't put the E in front of it, so the name of the company is actually C-V-N-E, but for some reason, when they first came out with their first wine brand, whoever did the labeling thought that the V should have been a U, and so their wines, even though the company is C-V-N-E, the wines have been C-U-N-E, cune, which you can actually pronounce that Ever since, and they never planned on that. That was just they wanted their acronym, but that was 178 years ago. So here we go Now. They started in Rioja, but this is not a Rioja. This is a wine from the Catalonia, the Penediz. This is an area in northeastern Spain, think Barcelona. Barcelona is the biggest town and this is a traditional method.

Speaker 1: 2:05

Bubbly Traditional method is also called the champagne method. I've got an explanation on the cheapwinefightercom website and it's basically they do the second fermentation in the bottle. Prosecco is in a tank, a pressurized tank, where they put CO2, they put sugar and yeast in the tank with the first wine. Every time they ferment these twice and there the pressure pushes the CO2 back into the bottle and you get the bubbles. Here it's the time spent in the bottle, each individual bottle. They put yeast and sugar in there and each individual bottle. There's no place to go the bubbly. The co2 has got to go back into the wine. So that's where you get the bubbles. On this thing it is the exact same way as a made as um champagne and it's different from Prosecco. Still bubbly, still like both, still like all three.

Speaker 1: 3:10

The grapes are traditional grapes, exarlo, which is weird because it has a dot in it. Usually you see a hyphen because most keyboard won't put a dot up that high, won't put a dot up that high. So you get that it's an old Basque grape. The Basque language goes back so far that people aren't sure where it's from. And then it's also got perlata. Well, it's 40% Nixarlo, 30% perlata and 30% Macabeo. That's traditional grapes, that's the grapes you'd normally find. A combination of those three grapes is what you find in Cava, though nowadays you could also find Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in some. I mean, you have to actually look for it. And then, because they make it like champagne, there's producers out there that are also using the champagne grapes.

Speaker 1: 4:04

I'm going gonna take a sip. That's good. This is Chris. Chris, light got really balanced acidity. I've had some cavas that are so sharp with the acidity that you're taking an acid a couple of hours after you're done.

Speaker 1: 4:34

This one's balanced. It's got length. The acidity should give the wine enough structure for the flavors to unfold, and that's what happened here. If it goes overboard and starts getting, you know, it starts getting an accident reflex or something. No, no, they didn't handle it right. Here it's handled right.

Speaker 1: 4:52

I mean, it's a company that's been around for 150 years making all different types of wine. You've got to figure. They know what they're doing. And it tastes great. It's got lemon, it's got apple, it's got peach and pear and maybe nectarine, maybe some tangerine. Yeah, there's all faint. This is not one of those wines. This isn't the Sauvignon Blanc, where the flavors come up and hit you over the head. This is all faint stuff that you actually have to think about just a little bit. But that's okay. Think about your wine for a few seconds Any good wine you should do that and then after that you don't really have to. After that you can enjoy yourself and just sip and not have to worry about things.

Speaker 1: 5:36

The bubbles are tiny, which is good. They keep going and it tastes good. I paid $11.99 for bubbly in a traditional method. At a retail. You can sometimes get a Trader Joe's, aldi, costco bubbly for a really good price because they got different pricing structures because they're a store brand. But to get a really good sparkling wine from a retailer who's been around a long time, that's not too bad. So this is the Cunicaba Brut. It is dry, it does taste good, it is well made. It is Barcelona bubbles. That ain't bad. That's it for me. Domain Dave cheapwinefightercom. We've got more wines coming. This is a good wine for the summer. Keep this chilled and you're going to have a nice sip on a hot day. So, adios, keep it cheap and I'll be speaking to you. Bye, bye.