Organic Wines Uncorked: Cava, Cava, Cava | The Perfect World Cup Drink, Especially When Spain Is Playing

Monday, July 13, 2026

Cava, Cava, Cava | The Perfect World Cup Drink, Especially When Spain Is Playing

Sunday was international Cava Day...but it's not too late to imbibe. Tomorrow is the big France-Spain game. And the D.O.'s new organic only category is something to celebrate.

Saturday was the official Cava day, but the latest game was July 10 and La Marcha, a new tapas bar in Berkeley that I’d been meaning to try, was advertising on Instagram that it would be open for the match.

SEE PHOTOS HERE

I reserved a seat at the bar (for best viewing) and duly celebrated D.O. Cava one day early with this Guarda Superior cava from Blanchard.

SEE PHOTOS HERE

The 2025 Cava Meeting I attended the grand CAVA Meeting in November in Penedes when the D.O. unveiled its new Guarda Superior label with dozens of wineries from the D.O. participating in a grand tasting, hosting press trips to visit individual wineries, and an amazing educational morning filled with seminars that unveiled new, valuable academic research. (More to come on that front. Just haven’t found time to write them up yet, but they were super impressive and writing it up is very much on my mind.)

The Guarda Superior requires extra aging and ORGANIC WINE GRAPE GROWING (certified grapes) among other things. This is the first D.O. to require organics for a particular category and if you ask me, it is a very smart strategy. It is very hard for their sparkling wine competitors (Prosecco and Champagne, primarily) to be organic.

While 90 percent of Cava’s production is NOT Guarda Superior, more than 10 percent is and these wines are made in quantities that mean they can be found here in USA at major wine retailers, like Total Wine. (I bought cases and cases of the organically grown pink Vilarnau Cava [Guarda Superior] for a friend’s wedding here from the Emeryville store after visiting the winery last year.

Famed wine writer Elaine Chukan Brown was along for the day, and we had a great time trying this and other wines and pal-ing around. Here’s her take on the Vilarnau.

SEE THE SUBSTACK VERSION FREE

Berkeley’s La Marcha has only one Cava, but it is, I am happy to report, a Guarda Superior (seen on the back label), meaning it must meet the organic farming guidelines.

More to come on the D.O. Cava trip to individual wineries including a post on the biodynamic label run by four women vineyard managers...more to celebrate.

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Wines We Cover

We publish information about wines grown from certified organic or Biodynamic vineyards that are generally made with sulfites (which are usually added in small amounts to preserve the wine).

That includes these certification types:

ORGANIC WINE CERTIFICATIONS

• Made with Organic Grapes

Vineyards: certified organic

Vinification: less than 100 ppm of sulfites (i.e. a normal range)

Winery: certified organic facility

Labeling: front or back label

• Ingredients: Organic Grapes

Vineyards: certified organic

Vinification: up to 350 ppm of sulfites (same as for any non organic wine)

Labeling: back label only

BIODYNAMIC® CERTIFICATIONS

• Biodynamic Wine

Vineyards: certified biodynamic

Yeasts: native

Vinification: less than 100 ppm of sulfites; no additives of any kind

Winery: certified biodynamic facility

Labeling: front or back label; Demeter logo may appear

• Made with Biodynamic Grapes

Vineyards: certified biodynamic

Yeasts: native or organic

Vinification: less than 100 ppm of sulfites; limited number of additives permitted

Winery: certified biodynamic facility

Labeling: front or back

Note: unlike organically grown wines, for which there is a category called "Ingredients: Organic Grapes," wines sourced from biodynamic grapes may not make any biodynamic claim on the bottle label. Bottle labeling is reserved for Demeter certified wines only.

SULFITES IN CONTEXT

According to U.C. Davis, the average among all wines in the U.S. (as well as globally) is 80 ppm.

WHAT THE USDA CALLS ORGANIC WINES

Unlike any other nation, the U.S. oddly imposes a no sulfite restriction on wines in order for them to be called Organic Wine. These wines are also called NSA or NAS wines (which stands for "No Sulfites Added" or "No Added Sulfites.")

From the above description, one can see that there are in fact three types of organically grown wines:

1. Organic Wine (less than 15% of all organically grown wine)

2. Made with Organic Grapes

3. Ingredients: Organic Grapes

The vast majority of wines from organic grapes are labeled Made with Organic Grapes, Ingredients: Organic Grapes or are blended with nonorganic grapes and unlabeled.

Fine winemakers do not generally make wine without sulfites and a number of large wine retailers like BevMo do not sell wine in the category of "USDA Organic Wine."

With rare exceptions, this blog does not cover what the USDA calls "Organic Wine."

We are hopeful that the USDA will revise the categorization of organically grown wines and make NSA or NAS wines a category of their own.

This would put the U.S. in accord with the rest of the world, where "Organic Wine" means a wine from certified grapes made within limits on sulfites (generally under 100-150 ppm).

Organic Wines Uncorked

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Monday, July 13, 2026

Cava, Cava, Cava | The Perfect World Cup Drink, Especially When Spain Is Playing

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