The Cava War: the war is over

Appearing in today's La Vanguardia newspaper was the news that Freixenet and Codorníu, the two giants of Spain's sparkling wine sector (Cava) have reached a "peace" settlement. These two companies, who between them produce roughly two-thirds of all Cava, have been suing each other for the past 10 years over alleged fraudulent trade practices. According to today's report, the various lawsuits have been withdrawn and there have been rumors of some "economic compensation" being made, but the details as to the amount and type of compensation, and by whom - to whom have not yet been revealed.

The "cava war" was launched in 1996 when Codorníu accused Freixenet of releasing cava that was aged less than the mandatory 9 months in the bottle. Freixenet's position was that when the time required for the bottles to reach the consumer was factored in, the nine month period was met. Then they countersued Codorníu for using white frosted bottles, mainly in the UK, which Freixenet considered to be a violation of trademark for one of their signature products, Carta Nevada. Each side won some of the courtroom battles, but in the end, no conclusive decisions were issued by the courts, while a great deal of effort was made in waging battles that most likely did more to harm than good to the image of cava.

Additionally, one of the disputed issues concerning the Cava D.O.'s prohibition of Pinot Noir in white Cavas, which had promoted Codorníu's Raimat brand to leave the Cava D.O. and produce their own style of sparkling wine, had been rendered moot a year ago when the D.O. changed its stance, allowing Pinot to be used in white as well as rosé cavas.

So, now, the two heavyweights can try to get on with things, which means principally in the domestic market, overcoming the effects of the "cava boycott" outside of Catalunya, which saw sales in 2005 drop by nearly 7% or 6.6 million bottles, while Champagne sales in Spain shot up dramatically last year. Internationally, the volume of Cava export sales are nearly equal to those of Champagne.