Foam Aptitude of Trepat and Monastrell Red Varieties in Cava Elaboration. 1. Base Wine Characteristics

The foam properties of base wines made from red autochthonous varieties (Trepat and Monastrell) were studied. Four wines of each variety were elaborated (fermented off skins at industrial scale in two consecutive harvests) and blended at different proportions with the white traditional variety (Macabeo, Xarel.lo, and Parellada) wines to elaborate Cava (closed-bottle-fermented sparkling wine). When crescent amounts of Trepat were added to the traditional white blend, the foamability and the color intensity (CI) of the wine increased polinomically. The increase of the CI depended on the year of harvest. Thus, oenologists could decide the blend proportion most suitable to elaborate either a “blanc de noirs” sparkling wine or a new type of Cava. Keywords: Trepat; Monastrell; foam; sparkling wine; Cava; red variety; color intensity