Joan Josep Colás Feixas, Leticia Isabel Hernández Hernández and Zuberoa Marcos Uztarroz
Winemaking is no longer what it used to be. Tradition has given way to last-generation biotechnology and,
even, aerospace technology.
It has been a long time since grapes were pressed by feet. The yeasts used to ferment grape juice don't come from fruit skins or peasants' feet. Nowadays, these yeasts are specifically isolated and selected from the Penedès region. Because, after all, wine must have its unique touch. These yeasts are then genetically characterised by CSIC (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas) scientists in order to be catalogued. Big companies like Freixenet have their own yeast collections and use diferent strains depending on the wine or cava desired to be produced.
But Cava's elaboration process, unlike that of wine, doesn't finish in the barrel. Once the wine is obtained, the requisite tirage is added. This mix, a blend of wine, sugar and another yeast, will allow a second fermentation to take place; but this time... in the bottle. A company as large as Freixenet produces 950000 cava bottles per day. That is 950000 different fermentations!! Each day!!!!
In order to minimise variability, Freixenet scientists have developed, together with a company which works with ESA (European Space Agency), a new twchnology: a probe which, placed inside the tanks, provides an accurate reading of the viable yeast count in real time on an on-going basis. And that is achieved by measuring impedance in the tirage. How much tedious work is going to be avoided? Only Freixenet Scientists can answer this question, but the satisfaction on their faces is evident.
Despite all these changes, wine or cava remain, in Josep Bujan's words, a drink to enjoy, a drink to share with friends on a good table.
