A station worth revisiting
Car-va
White
Official Name
Cava divides people – the lovers love it and the haters don’t. This is partly because it comes in a number of guises, and the cheap stuff does not do cava any favours, yet that is what most of us associate with cava. In fact, it’s made in the same way as champagne (although not always with the same grapes) and has the potential to be just as classy. The grapes used make a difference to the flavour, Cava can be made with the champagne grapes Chardonnay and Pinot Noir which gives the wines a more familiar flavour, or local Spanish grapes like Xarel-lo which give the wine an earthier flavour which some people don’t like.
Things you should know
Top Tip: Cava has a similar bubble structure to champagne, which makes it the perfect cocktail fizz, whereas prosecco can lose its bubbles with too many ingrediencts added.
Specific Food Match: Go to Barcelona and you'll be served cava with your tapas, which is no bad thing. So serve up your cava with a sharing platter of charcuterie and cheeses and graze, Spanish style.