A true taste of Spain with Vilarnau cava

Join Vilarnau cava at restaurants across London this winter for the calçotada – a celebration of the spirit of Catalonia

Vibrant and cosmopolitan, Barcelona is a bright jewel on Spain’s north-east coast. The region’s most famous wine embodies the spirit of Barcelona perfectly: sparkling and delicious cava. And there’s no better example of this than Vilarnau, a cutting-edge, premium producer located near Barcelona in Penedès, the traditional heartland of cava.

Vilarnau cava places taste at the centre of everything it does. At no time of year is this more evident than in spring, when Catalonia’s crop of calçots come into season. These sweet, mild, onions (pronounced ‘kalsot’) look like a cross between a leek and an overgrown spring onion. Locals grill them on the barbecue, then peel off the blackened outer layers, dip the delicious hearts into romesco sauce and dangle them into their mouths. Naturally, this finger-licking treat is a perfect match for the local cava, and so the calçotada was born.

In celebration of calçot season, Vilarnau has partnered with a number of restaurants to bring all the fun of the calçotada to the UK. Here’s where to find one and how to book:

23 January Alquimia, 30 Brewhouse Lane, SW15 2JX; info@alquimiarestaurant.co.uk

3 February Ambiente Tapas York, 31 Fossgate, YO1 9TA and 4 February Ambiente Tapas Leeds, 36-38 The Calls, LS2 7EW; fossgate@ambiente-tapas.co.uk, enquiriesleeds@ambiente-tapas.co.uk

23 February Boisdale, Cabot Place, Canary Wharf, E14 4QT; reservations@boisdale-cw.co.uk

21, 28 February and 13 March Boqueria Acre Lane, 192 Acre Lane, Brixton, SW2 5UL and 20 March Boqueria Queenstown, 280 Queenstown Road, Battersea, SW8; info@boqueriatapas.com

Read on to find out more about Vilarnau cava and calçotada season

Visitors to Vilarnau’s home in Penedès can stroll among the vineyards planted with rare native grapes such as Subirat Parent and Trepat, alongside the more familiar cava varieties: Macabeo, Xarel·lo, Parellada and Chardonnay. Against the stunning backdrop of the Montserrat mountain peaks, the vineyard team also pioneered plantings of Pinot Noir, practicing precision viticulture to ensure that each vine reaches its full potential.

There’s no less attention to detail in the winery, where winemakers Damià Deàs and Eva Plazas Torné follow the traditional process of secondary fermentation in-bottle – the same way that Champagne is made. The wines are then aged in-bottle, sometimes for more than three years, to develop a distinctively rich character with toasty and biscuity notes.

The winery itself is a work of art, a striking modernist building designed by Catalan architect Antonio Miró. Like the whole winemaking operation at Vilarnau, the winery has been designed to be as eco-friendly as possible, with such clever ideas as recycling the rainwater collected on its roof.

Miró’s design also links the winery’s state-of-the-art technology with the heritage of the Vilarnau family, which traces its roots in the Penedès region back to the 12th century. Vilarnau’s close links with Barcelona are also evident in the design of its bottle sleeves, which feature the eye-catching ‘trencadís’ mosaic pattern you can spot all over the city, most notably in Parc Güell, famously designed by Antoni Gaudí.

Feast for the senses

Owen Morgan has hosted calçotadas at his Bar 44 tapas restaurants in Cardiff for the last two years. “When the calçots come to the table they look like a big pile of burnt onions, but when you peel back the outside layers you get a lovely sweetness,” he says. Drinking Vilarnau cava from the porrón “adds to the entertainment”. People may be shy to get stuck into the messy fun initially, “but after 10 minutes you’ll be having a great time,” says Morgan, who is already planning at least three calçotadas for April 2016.

Zoe Plummer attended her first calçotada in January this year and decided to recreate one at her restaurant Ambiente Tapas in Leeds. “It’s not something that many people outside the north of Spain are familiar with – it was even a new concept to some of our staff from the south of Spain,” she explains.

Plummer decided to call in an expert to help: Plazas Torné from Vilarnau. “It was a wonderful opportunity for our customers to meet the lady responsible for the cava that we were serving. It was nerve-wracking for us trying to pull off our first calçotada with native Catalans in attendance. They were, however, impressed and highly amused that our attempt at an indoor barbecue resulted in the fire alarm being activated!”

Meanwhile at Boqueria in the capital, John Scott has been holding calçotadas since 2012 and plans to host four next year. “They’ve become increasingly popular. We’re now the biggest one in London and last year over 800 people came. We get a big Catalan crowd and lots of families coming along with their kids,” he says. “Cava is the Catalan drink and when the calçots are in season, the first cavas of the year are ready to drink, so it’s a very seasonal thing – a celebration of spring!” he concludes.

This article was first published in the autumn 2015 issue of Square Meal Lifestyle magazine