Coronavirus reduces sparkle in Spain's cava industry

Vilarnau's CEO Damia Deas and oenologist Eva Plazas test a barrel at Vilarnau cellar during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Sant Sadurni d'Anoia, near Barcelona, Spain, May 27, 2020. Picture taken May 27, 2020. REUTERS/ Albert Gea

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Spain's 1.2 billion euro cava sector has had a turbulent few years with a grape-farmers' strike, foreign buyouts of family firms and a sales hit from the Catalonia separatist crisis.

And all that before the coronavirus came along.