Sales of cava, the Spanish sparkling wine, are down globally thanks to bad weather affecting vineyards but industry leaders have a plan to reverse their flagging fortunes. Christmas may be round the corner, but cava makers have little to toast after a severe drought over the past three years wrought havoc on harvests. Supplies of the bubbly wine which is made almost exclusively in Spain’s Catalonia region have run short, forcing bodegas to ration sales to their biggest markets abroad.
About 70% of the cava produced is sold abroad while the rest remains in the Spanish market. Global sales of cava have fallen between January and September this year by 12.8% compared to the same period last year, according to an industry body.
International sales dropped nearly 16%. Traditionally, Germany was the largest market for lovers of Spanish bubbles but the self-imposed rationing of supplies by cava producers led to a drop of 55% in sales this year. Part of the reason for this nose-dive in sales to Germany was Freixenet, the biggest cava producer in the world, which greatly reduced its supplies because it simply did not have the stock to sell.
In Britain, where cava has been a popular drink for many years, sales dropped 15.44% this year, compared with in 2023. Italian has become the fizzy drink of choice for many.
This meant that Belgium became the leader in international sales, followed by the United States, where Spanish bodegas sold 12 million bottles this year. Russia, where the bu.
