When choosing a Champagne alternative, turn to this value-driven Cava

The popularity of sparkling wines has been largely driven by the growing availability of affordable sparkling wines, such as Prosecco from Italy, Cava from Spain, and the cachet of pricier bubbles from France. These three countries together dominate sparkling exports with over 85% of the market share. France and Italy may lead in volume, but Spain is closed behind and home to the globe’s largest sparkling wine producer: Freixenet (pronounced freshen-ette).

Freixenet was an early pioneer of sparkling wine production in the Penedés region, just outside Barcelona, in the 19th century. Initially known as “Champaña” but since legally changed to Cava, the idea was to apply the French “méthode champenoise” technique to local grape varieties. Today, blends of macabeo, xarel-lo, and parellada remain the norm for all Cava and the rigorous French method is required by law.

Launched in 1974, Freixenet’s iconic black bottled “Cordon Negro” quickly became one of the world’s most popular tipples thanks to its excellent quality-price ratio, offering flavors of green apples, Meyer lemon, and ginger beer plus considerable finesse in the mouthfeel of its bubbles. Today, the wine is even more well-made than ever and shoppers can choose from two levels of sweetness. The Brut is the drier of the two, with less residual sugar than most Brut Champagnes. The Extra Dry is confusingly a tad sweeter, with a more Prosecco-like kiss of detectable sugar, and is on sale through Sunday at the same price.

$12.99 12% alcohol

PLCB Item #8422

Sale price through 3/27 — regularly $15.99

Also available at:

Total Wine & More in Wilmington and Claymont, Del., $9.99, totalwine.com; Canal’s Liquors in Pennsauken, $10.09, canalsliquors.com; Joe Canal’s Hammonton Discount Liquor Outlet in Hammonton, $10.09, joecanalshammonton.com.