Hi amig@s, did you know that Juvé & Camps has more than 200 years of history? Imagine what it must be like to carry out the harvest with ell@s, with more than 200 years of experience, generations taking care of its vineyards to squeeze the most out of the fruit and delight us with its famous wines and cavas.
Well, don’t imagine that we already tell you nosotr@s how they carry out the nuestr@s amig@s harvest of Juvé & Camps. You can also visit its wineries, always remember that it is much better to live the experience in first person. Here is the link where you can contact ell@s and organize a visit with your family, amig@s and/or partner.
Let’s go to the subject in question, as we mentioned before, Juvé & Camps has more than 200 years of history, specifically it all started in 1796 with Mr. Joan Juvé Mir, who built the company thanks to his vision of the future. It is currently chaired by Mr. Joan Juvé, the fourth generation of the dynasty, the great-great-grandson of the one who began the story.
Today the wineries own more than 450 hectares of land, 290 of which are exclusively vineyards. For more than 10 years they have been working the land in a sustainable way, being pioneers in making organic wines and cavas, being faithful to their principles and objectives, preserving nature and offering us products of maximum guarantee and maximum quality.
By implementing its values based on effort and work, it achieved the rigorous certification of organic viticulture in 2015, activating practices such as the exploitation of the vineyard at low yields to obtain the highest quality of the grapes in a completely natural process. They have eliminated chemical insecticides and herbicides, replacing them only with 100% organic products. In addition, they leave land unsown for years so that the land can regenerate and rest. At Juvé & Camps they are very clear: quality begins in the vineyard.
The harvest is the most important moment of any winery. It is the process that will determine the quality of the cava. At Juve & Camps they know this very well and they get up very early to pick the fruit by hand, why so early? To avoid the high temperatures of the day and prevent the spontaneous fermentation of the grapes, use scissors and cut only healthy and whole bunches. They use small baskets so that the grapes do not get crushed. Once the container is full, it is placed on the tractor trailer and they travel the short distance to the warehouse. Here they do the second screening, at the selection table, destemming and choosing the best grapes to make the best wines and cavas. Now the grapes go through the first pressing, obtaining 50% of the juice of the grape, called the flor must. The liquid passes through the vats, which are stainless steel containers, where the first fermentation process will take place. The second fermentation is done in the bottle, a procedure that can take a long time, like their La Capella cava with 108 months of aging.
There are 3 phases for fermenting and resting cava:
The first in position, in rhyme. It consists of stacking the bottles horizontally. In this way, they manage to activate the yeasts, which produce carbon dioxide. The lees are responsible for this change, which are the remains of the blended grapes that remain in suspension. This is a key element in guaranteeing the quality of cava. Juvé & Camps cavas classified as Gran Reserva let their bottles rest in this position for at least 30 months.
The second is at a desk. Tilt the bottle at an angle of about 45º, with the tip facing the ground. With this movement you get the lees to go down and rest towards the mouth of the neck of the bottle.
The third and last one, pointed. Here they prepare the bottle for disgorgement, so that the lees concentrate on the tip and can be easily removed.
Then comes the disgorgement process. Here they freeze the neck of the bottle so that the lees are concentrated and can be easily removed when opening the cap. With this process, they also avoid losing part of the precious liquid and carbon dioxide. And the bottle would be ready for labeling and transport to our home, Abrassame. *Note, imagine the level they have at Juvé & Camps, which have brands that are labelled by hand. Every detail counts and adds up.
The Juvé & Camps grape harvest, more than 200 years of history, the experience of 4 generations and always adding to what they do and how they do it.