Freixenet Cava Brut "Cordon Negro"

The Rundown

“If a wine seller tries to sell you Cava wine from Germany or some other country, decline their offer and run away.” warns one blogger.

Literally, run the frick away. You have no idea what contraband they may be trying to pass off on you. Baby tears, elephant tusks, sex panther…you do not want to be on the wrong side of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, believe me.

Luckily the good ol’ CBP is pretty good at keeping most offenders off the consumer market, so virtually all the Cava you will be purchasing will be good ol’ sparkling juice made in the Metodo Tradicional, yet another bullshit term made up to replace Méthode Champenoise on labels.

Cava is an appellation that actually covers up to six regions in northeastern Spain, although most of the wine produced comes from the Penedès, a small region within Catalonia right on the coast of the Mediterranean.

Freixenet Cava Brut NV “Cordon Negro”

I was actually pretty interested in this wine because one, I have really enjoyed quite a few Cava’s in my time; and two, I see this wine everywhere, I believe it’s the most imported sparkling wine in the U.S. Unfortunately, I don’t think popularity translates very well into drinkability in this case.

I smelled some melon, a little citrus, and maybe just a touch of grass. It wasn’t as inspiring as that description sounds. The taste was pretty simple too, it was like biting into an un-ripe lemon. It was really sour, and not in the good Warhead kinda way. Maybe just a touch of minerality on the finish, which did linger a little bit.

This wine was bad; nothing interesting, playful, coy…just straight up ugly. You can usually write it off as, “Well, it was under ten bones…” But not even the price point can save this wine. I promise you can find three or four Cava’s that are so much more exciting for the same investment.

Who knows, though, it could’ve been the bottle. But if you want to be sure, just run the frick away.