Cava
Definition - What does Cava mean?
Cava is a type of white or red sparkling wine produced in Spain. This type of wine is similar to champagne because of its traditional production method, "champenoise". However, the difference between cava wine and champagne is the type of grapes used. The most popular grapes used to make cava include macabeu, xarel-lo and parellada. Even though there is a difference between cava and champagne and the EU law does not permit champagne to be labeled as cava, it is still informally and casually called champán (Spanish for champagne) in the villages of Spain.
WineFrog explains Cava
Cava was first created by Josep Raventos in 1872. Ever since it has grown prominence in Spain. It is considered very special in Spain because of its importance in numerous Spanish traditional functions like weddings and baptisms. Though 95% of cava is produced in the Catalonia region; there are other places that produce this wine. Some other areas known to produce cava include: Aragon, Valencia, Extremadura and La Rioja.
The type of grapes used to produce cava wines determines the flavor. For example, the dryness of a cava wine depends on the types of grapes used in production. The different styles of cava wine include: brut, semiseco, dulce and seco.
