I was downstairs in the wine bar of Ye Olde Wine Shoppe, chilling several bottles of sparkling wine in ice that I had just purchased for the shop, when I was surprised by a visit from Heidi Starr, a Napa Valley winemaker.

Her latest wine, Shrieking Parrot Oakville Zinfandel, had just scored a 97-plus rating in all the major wine publications. She made only 400 cases of this more than 100-year-old zin, and the wine is almost impossible to get. On eBay, prices for the wine soared to more than $1,500 a bottle, joining such elite wines as Screaming Eagle, Bryant Family and Harlan Estate.

The madness for cult wines has been driving prices out of sight and has nothing to do with the quality of the wine but with its scarcity. If you tasted the wine, you would probably think it’s a nice $40 bottle of wine. But some wines drinkers have to have trophies, and that is the main appeal of these wines.

Heidi got right to the point. “I know you don’t like most of my wines,” she said.

I shook my head. “That is not true. I think they are fine, just not great. It is just that the wines are made in the high alcohol style, with too much oak. You lose varietal characteristics in exchange for heaviness, and that is not what I want in a wine.”

“These are the type of wines most of the wine press want,” she said.

I decided not to mince words: “The wines are incompatible with food, and that is bottom line. It is always about food and wine. I have no idea what these wine critics are doing, but I suspect they are having these wines without any food. And that is why richness sticks out to them, particularly after they’ve already tasted 50 wines and their palates are numb from the alcohol.”

There was a long silence. As a peace offering, I decided to pour some bubbly.

Heidi smiled and accepted a flute. “I love sparkling wine and have often wondered whether I should try to make some,” she said.

I poured the Mont-Ferrant Gran Cuvee Brut Cava, which is a blend of three Spanish white grapes, macabeo, xarello and parellada. The cava was highly sparkling, dry and clean.

“I like cava,” Heidi said. ‘This wine has an apple and lemony finish, a rich body and a zillion bubbles. Aren’t all these wines made around the Barcelona area in Spain?”

“Right,” I said, taking a sip from my flute of bubbly. “All cava is produced in the Penedes area in Catalonia. All the wines are fermented in the bottle, like French champagne.”

I grabbed another bottle for us to try. “‘Cava’ is Greek for cellar and ‘Catalonia’ is Catalan for cellar,” I said. “And as we all know, all sparkling wines are aged in a cellar. Years ago, Cava was referred to as Spanish champagne, but all that was outlawed by the European Union to protect the integrity of French champagne.”

The next wine I poured was a brut rosé from the same producer, Mont-Ferrant.

“Cava rosé is made with granacha, better known as Grenache, and Monastrell, also known as mourvedre,” I explained. “Brief contact with the red grapes skins gives the wine its color and then it is fermented in the bottle.”

Heidi’s blue eyes danced as she looked at the pink bubbly. “The wine has a beautiful strawberry color,” she said, taking a sip. “There is elegance to the nose of the cava and it has a very silky and textured body, as well as a well-rounded mouth feel.”

“It reminds me of very ripe blackberries and strawberries,” I said. “In the finish, I get a hint of black currants. The wine is simply lovely and retails for about $15, the same for the Gran Cuvee.”

Heidi swept back her long black hair and said, “I understand that pinot noir and chardonnay are now being used to make Cava.”

I poured her another glass. “True. Again, Spanish winemakers have to go with the international varietals, but only pinot noir can be used in sparkling brut rosé. It can’t be used in a brut. In that way, Cava will always have the distinctive taste that comes from the use of primarily Spanish varietals, and it won’t wind up like a half-done champagne.”

“Cava is a great value compared to other sparkling wines,” Heidi said, gently taking the bottle out my hand to examine the label. “I think there is no question, Cava is the single best wine value, whether it is Mont-Ferrant, Segura Viudas, Cristalino or dozens more in the marketplace.”

“Almost all Cava is under $20 and most is under $10,” I added as I grabbed a bottle of French champagne.