quality sparkling wine

English · EU wine category 5

In EU law, quality sparkling wine (category 5) has at least 3.5 bar of excess pressure at 20 °C, and its cuvée has a total alcoholic strength of at least 9% vol.1

Protected sparkling appellations usually sit in this category. The Cava specification, for example, defines Cava as a quality sparkling wine with at least 3.5 bar at 20 °C.3 For quality sparkling wines with a PDO, actual alcohol including the expedition liqueur must be at least 10% vol.4 Total SO2 is capped at 185 mg/L for all quality sparkling categories.2 National names include German Sekt and Qualitätsschaumwein and Spanish vino espumoso de calidad.5,3 Compare with sparkling wine. All categories: EU categories.

See also

EU categories of sparkling wineMethodssparkling wineGlossarysulphur dioxide limitGlossaryCavaRegions

Sources

  1. legislation.gov.uk (copy of EU OJ text). Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, Annex VII Part II (categories of grapevine products), original version as adopted (2013-12-17)
  2. EUR-Lex. Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/934 (oenological practices), Articles 7-8 and Annex I (2019-03-12)
  3. Consejo Regulador DO Cava. Pliego de condiciones DOP Cava
  4. legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives). Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/934, Annex II (sparkling wine oenological practices), as reproduced on legislation.gov.uk (2019-03-12)
  5. Bundesministerium der Justiz (gesetze-im-internet.de). Weinverordnung § 32 (Bezeichnungen für Weinarten; Rotling, Blanc de Noirs, Weißherbst)

Facts checked on 2026-10-19