This article is about a type of wine; Cava is also an island in Scotland and a part of human anatomy.

Outside the producer Freixenet in Penedès, Spain.

Cava is the name of a type of white sparkling wine, produced mainly in the Penedès region in northeastern Spain, 40 km to the south west of Barcelona. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (768x1024, 507 KB) Picture taken by Onar Vikingstad Outside the Freixenet headquarter in Cataluna. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (768x1024, 507 KB) Picture taken by Onar Vikingstad Outside the Freixenet headquarter in Cataluna. ... A glass of sparkling wine Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it making it fizzy. ... Barcelona within Barcelonès Population (2003) 1,582,738 Area 1004 Km2 Population density (2001) 15,764/Km2 Barcelona is the capital city of Catalonia, an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, and Spains second-largest city (after Madrid). ...

The region of Penedès is surrounded by Montserrat, an area of predominantly rocky terrain, and has been home to vineyards since the Greeks settled here in antiquity. It has an ideal climate for wine-making; the north and eastern winds of the levanter help to cool the region, while the chalky top soil over clay allows the vines to establish deep roots. A vineyard Vineyard with bird netting Wine grapes with netting as protection against birds A vineyard (vignoble in French, vigna or vigneto in Italian, vinha in Portuguese, viña or viñedo in Spanish, Weinberg in German) is a place where grapes are grown for making wine, raisins, or table... The following is a list of the basic steps involved in wine making: Grow grapes until ripe. ... The Levanter is an easterly wind that blows in the Western Mediterranean. ... The Needles, part of the extensive Southern England Chalk Formation Chalk is a soft, white, porous form of limestone composed of the mineral calcium carbonate. ...

The sparkling wine of Cava was created in 1872 by Josep Raventós. The vineyards of Penedès were devastated by the phylloxera plague, and the predominantly red vines were being replaced by large numbers of vines producing white grapes. After seeing the success of the Champagne region, Raventós decided to create the dry sparkling wine that has become the reason for the region's continued success. In the past the wine was referred to as Spanish Champagne but this is no longer permitted, or colloquially as champaña. 1872 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Grape Phylloxera (Daktulosphaira vitifoliae, family Phylloxeridae, superfamily Aphidoidea) is a serious pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America. ... Species Vitis acerifolia Vitis aestivalis Vitis amurensis Vitis arizonica Vitis x bourquina Vitis californica Vitis x champinii Vitis cinerea Vitis x doaniana Vitis girdiana Vitis labrusca Vitis x labruscana Vitis monticola Vitis mustangensis Vitis x novae-angliae Vitis palmata Vitis riparia Vitis rotundifolia Vitis rupestris Vitis shuttleworthii Vitis tiliifolia Vitis... Champagne is one of the traditional provinces of France, a region of France that is best known for the production of the sparkling white wine that bears the regions name. ...

The annual production of Cava is around 12 million cases, second only to Champagne in quantity of production for a sparkling wine. The wine is made by the traditional Méthode champenoise, and uses a selection of the grapes macabeo, parellada, xarello, Chardonnay,(all white) and monstrell, garnacha tinta, Pinot Noir, (red). Méthode champenoise is the secondary, inside-the-bottle fermentation that is used to create authentic Champagne and other high quality sparkling wines, as well as certain kinds of Belgian beer. ... Macabeo (Maccabeo or Viura in parts of Spain) is a variety of wine grape. ... Chardonnay is a green-skinned grape variety used to make a white varietal wine. ... Mourvèdre is a variety of wine grape grown around the world, and is Spains second-most important red wine grape after Garnacha, and was once Provences most popular grape. ... Pinot Noir is a red wine grape variety, considered to make some of the greatest wines. ...

Codorníu and Freixenet are famous producers of this wine.

The three levels of dryness of the wine are: brut (extra dry), seco (dry) and semiseco (medium). The sweetness of a wine is defined by the level of residual sugar (or RS) in the final liquid after the fermentation has ceased. ...

External link

• Freixenet
• Codorniu
• Raventos i Blanc
• Cava Bertha
• Photographs of Freixenet and Codorniu Cava wineries