Want a taste of Spain, but don't want to pay for the plane flight? Then welcome to the world of cava! And when I say cava, I don't mean that crap ass bottle of Freixenet in the black bottle, your parents have in their refrigerator, that they insist on calling "champagne." For those whom don't know, cava is a sparkling wine usually made in the same fashion as champagne in France, but comes from Catalonia in Spain. Instead of being made of either chardonnay, pinot noir, or pinot meunier, like in France, cava is made from local grapes called macabeo, parellada, and xarel-lo. In Barcelona, cava is very important, and an everyday part of life. Cava is consumed, en masse, with traditional Catalonian foods, especially seafood. One of my favorite pairings of food and wine is spanish anchovies, or boquerones, and demi-sec/brut cava. And a new and enlightening cava I just had the opportunity to drink while lounging the other day was the Segura Viudas Brut Reserva. I'll admit, sparkling wines and champagnes are not my expertise and I don't usually review these types of wines, even though I do drink a lot of them. But the Segura was very good, and the price was even better, $7. This wine almost makes you wonder why people keep on shelling out $20-$35 bucks for shitty, brand name champagne. Segura was packed with hints of apple/pear and cinnamon/allspice and dominated by piecrust flavors. The bubbles were not huge, but fine (not high-grade champagne fine), and created a creaminess to the wine. The deliciousness of this wine is why I can see Wine & Spirits Magazine and Wine Enthusiast Magazine including it on their Top 100 Best Buys of 2009. This sparkler will become a staple around my house, especially because of the massive amounts of seafood we go through at my abode. I can see this going with simple grilled fish, steamed crab or crabcakes, or shrimp scampi, or f*** it, just drink it super cold on a hot day like I did in my garage that I use as a makeshift cigar lounge!
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