CAVA V PROSECCO. LE DIFFERENCE.

It’s a question that often comes my way, “what’s the difference between Cava and Prosecco?” It’s quite simple - there are four main differences.

The first difference is ORIGIN. Cava’s from the Penedes region in North-east Spain, inland from Barcelona, whilst Prosecco is from the Veneto region in north-east Italy, inland from Venice.

The second difference is the GRAPES. For Cava it’s Xarello, Macabeo and Parrelada whilst for Prosecco it’s the single variety, Glera.

As you can guess, these different grape varieties, linked to differing climates give these two sparklers totally different TASTING NOTES. That’s difference number three. 

For Cava you’ll find yourself writing, “citrus, apple flavours and aromas, crisp acidity with mineral overtones” whilst for Prosecco you’ll be penning “light, fragrant, fresh, fruity and flowery”. You’ll also note that Cava is generally drier than Prosecco and at about 12.5% carries slightly higher alcohol, compared to Prosecco’s 11.5-12% alcohol by volume. 

 Difference number four is WINEMAKING. Checking out how Cava’s made is a good place to start. 

Cava is made in exactly the same way as Champagne, by the so-called ‘Traditional Method’. It’s all quite easy to understand if we keep it to basics; it’s all about two fermentations. 

In the first fermentation they make a still, dry white wine using our favourite fermentation equation where sugar (the grapes) and yeast react to give alcohol (the wine) and carbon dioxide gas - which escapes into the atmosphere.  

The still, dry white wine is then put into a bottle with a little more sugar and a little more yeast, and the bottle sealed. Now comes the ‘second fermentation’ in the bottle but this time the carbon dioxide gas can’t escape - we have bubbles - we have Cava!!

Now comes the difference. Prosecco also undergoes a second fermentation but this time in a sealed tank not a bottle, (known as the Charmat Method) resulting in a tank full of sparkling wine which is then bottled under pressure. We have Prosecco!

So there we have, the difference between Cava and Prosecco. Simple eh!