What's the biggest difference between the two sparkling wines? ''Price," Sánchez says flatly. ''You can buy four to six bottles of cava for the price of a bottle of champagne."
Sure enough, on the top shelf at his tapas bar, Quimet & Quimet, prices for bottles of cava range from about $10 to $40 while farther down the line, champagne runs from about $25 to $175.
''Here, it's possible to have some every day," says Sánchez, grinning widely and gesturing around the bar. ''You can't do that with champagne!"
All things being equal, it's hard logic to beat. But is it really a dead heat, quality-wise? Probably not, though it's easy to get the feeling that cava is catching up fast.
''If this is champagne quality, and this is cava," says Sánchez, plunking down one index finger then the other on the table, ''this is what's happening." The cava finger moves to meet the stationary champagne finger.
In bars, restaurants, and homes, the difference in how people drink cava, as compared with champagne, is clear. In many of these places, the number of glasses poured often rivals that of beer and wine.
''In Catalonia, we drink cava at a party. It's a no-brainer," Sánchez says. ''We love the price and the taste."
Spain's cava production centers around Sant Sadurní d'Anoia, a not-terribly-touristy town about 15 miles west of Barcelona. The train from Barcelona lets you out directly under the headquarters of Freixenet, perhaps the best-known cava producer in the world.
In town, a glass of cava runs less than $2. At 4:15 in the afternoon, a man walks into a cafe, complains about something to no one in particular, then orders a glass of cava and reads about a victory for his soccer club before walking out with a smile on his face.
''Cava is something we can drink every day. There's a direct link between cava and the hearts of Catalonians," says Jaume Gramona, the director of cava producer Gramona S.A. ''When Barcelona's team wins a match, the consumption explodes."
