Master of Wine and wine buyer for Forth Wines This has a pale straw colour with smallish bubbles. Has a green apple nose which is quite lively. A typical cava without showing any real class. Crisp and dry in the mouth with a clean appley flavour ­ not as acidic as some. Given the price of own label cava at £4.99, this product in its smart purple packaging at £5.99 will be perceived as good value. It should appeal to the 18 to the 30 year old target market and older consumers who know cava. It might struggle a bit on taste versus the Aussies, but its packaging should encourage people to pick it up. Success rating out of 25 ­ 22 THE DESIGNER Matt Thompson Associate director of Blackburn's, a brand packaging designer There has been a plethora of blue bottle launches recently and they can, especially when frosted, look extremely cool. This one is let down by heavy handed labelling. The unexpected colours convey a sense of celebration and excitement, but without any further relevance to the brand, one could presume the product contains blueberries or blackcurrants ­ which it doesn't. To its credit, by appearing different to other cavas, it provokes a strong reaction, the hallmark of any good pack which seeks to be noticed. Success rating out of 25 ­ 10 THE BUYER Adam Marshall Licensed trading controller at Nisa-Today's The cava market is split between own label at the bottom end and premium priced brands. This product at £5.99 fills the gap in terms of price. I can take or leave the blue bottle. Products in other sectors have used blue ­ at least it is different for the cava market. The brand's success is likely to be dependent on the level of advertising support. In Europe it gets considerable backing including TV ads in Germany. However its sparkling wine market is much bigger than the UK's. If it manages to get the youth market to switch to sparkling wine it will be a big success, but I think that is an uphill struggle. Success rating out of 25 ­ 10 Total score out of 100 ­ 59 {{DRINKS }}

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