PRODUCERS
Cava caps from tirage. Made as part of the normal production and marketing chain of the same cellars, Designation of Origin: Cava – Corpinnat – Clàssic Penedès ……
This section includes advertising caps; also included here are caps corresponding to sparkling wines, needle wines, ciders, musts and similar, products classified under Nice 33, excluding beers.
Export caps: Those will be considered tirage caps if, besides being exported, they are also sold at the cellar.
Those only for export and not available for purchase anywhere will carry the CO mark.
Producers – Out of Catalog.
The following caps are validated in this section.
– Caps unrelated to the cellar (not recognized by the cellar itself).
– Counterfeit caps (with unknown origin).
– Caps from thefts (that have not been bottled).
– Manipulated caps (color, text differences or as a consequence of other natural factors).
– Caps with printing errors whether bottled or not, and later modified.
– Handmade caps by individuals.
– Promotional caps by individuals, entities, associations, clubs, etc., even if they bear the name of a cellar, with or without authorization.
– Test caps.
– Caps carrying names or logos of persons organizing meetings or other events, even if they bear the name of a cellar or brand.
BRAND HOLDERS
Other regular commercial companies, not sporadic, selling cava or sparkling wines, not included in the previous section, who have products bottled under their brand, or that of the cellar, by legally authorized producers, exclusively for sale. With the product brand registered at the Patents and Trademarks Office (OEPM) and with the bottler number displayed on the bottles.
Although a brand holder is properly registered with the OEPM, if they do not bottle regularly and have no distribution channel, their caps will be moved to speculation/pirules.
Modern caps from wine merchants, brand holders and Other Regions, when mentioning an entity, company, commemoration, event or similar, will be moved to the corresponding pirules sections. There may be documented exceptions by the committee if the brand name prevails more than the mention on the cap.
Brand Holders – Out of Catalog.
The same criteria as for the “Producers – Out of Catalog” section will apply.
OTHER REGIONS
Sparkling wines and cava from outside Catalonia, whether producers or brand holders (in the latter case, these may even be brand holders with products bottled in Catalonia). Includes needle wines, ciders, musts and similar. Beers are excluded.
Modern caps from wine merchants, brand holders and Other Regions, when mentioning an entity, company, commemoration, event or similar, will be moved to the corresponding pirules sections. There may be documented exceptions by the committee if the brand name prevails more than the mention on the cap.
Regional – Out of Catalog.
The same criteria as for the “Producers – Out of Catalog” section will apply.
Regional – Not Registered.
These are brands for which no registered trademark can be found.
PENDING
Caps – Pending Identification.
These are brands for which all the necessary information to complete the “info-cava” cannot be found, whether cava, brand holders or regional caps.
FOREIGN
Foreign caps. Subcatalogued by countries.
PIRULES
Other cava caps. Bottled or dry, with subcataloguing variants. See pirules section.
All pirule caps that have been published for more than one year and are owned by at least 21 users will move to the Not Valid section; when they reach 22 users who own them, they will move to the corresponding section.
Exceptions include regional pirules, pirules already in specific groups, and old pirules considered difficult and older than the year 2000.
SPECIAL EDITIONS – CAVA
This category will include caps that are not official tirage editions from the cellar.
Dry caps issued with or without permission from the cellar, the former will be categorized as “PCs” and the latter as “Out of Catalog”.
Excluded from this section are caps that only bear the name of the cellar, shield or logo, and personal images, etc., which will move to the corresponding Pirules sections.
Also included are some small producers without registered trademarks at the OEPM.
And other caps not included in this section but deemed so by the Committee.
SPECIAL EDITIONS – BRAND HOLDERS
This category will include caps that are not official tirage editions by the brand holder.
Dry caps issued with or without permission of the brand, the former will be categorized as “PCs” and the latter as “Out of Catalog”.
Excluded from this section are caps that only bear the brand name, shield or logo, and personal images, etc., which will move to the corresponding Pirules sections.
Also included are brands with expired trademark registrations and no renewal application who continue issuing caps.
Also new brands, even if duly registered with the OEPM, that only and from the start issue dry caps, or are PCs, in which case the category with the info-cava cannot be opened as the R.E. does not exist.
The opened categories are from the beginning of xapes.net and as they expire, they are regularized.
Other caps not included in this section but deemed so by the Committee.
OLD CAPS
Some engraved caps carry in the middle of the button a key with a letter identifying the “team leader” among the cellar employees. The different letter keys will not be considered different caps, although the cap record will note the different known letters. Neither will caps be cataloged that, due to manufacturing mold wear, show variations in letters or images. Such differences will also be noted in the cap record.
PICTO ET (Special Meeting)
Identifies bottled caps from producers, brand holders, and regional producers with products like cava, sparkling wines, and other varieties, always recognized under Nice 33, specially and exclusively issued for sale in bottles at public collectors’ meetings of cava caps.
New ET cap entries must obligatorily describe the date and place of the meeting, and if known, the number of bottles bottled.
Caps handed out without a bottle, fulfilling the ET criteria, will not be considered ET caps, and if marked with CO, only if previously announced.
Caps that are not official meeting caps and are handed out dry or bottled at breakfasts, lunches, raffles, etc., will not be considered ET but PCs, and must also be previously announced in xapes.net meetings.
Meeting announcements must be communicated at least seven days in advance; otherwise they may be cancelled.
Any dry or bottled cap presented at a meeting without prior announcement will be moved directly to PC.
As many meeting caps presented as new tirage caps are later proved not to be so, but rather agreements between meeting organizers and cellars, all caps presented at meetings, even if claimed as tirage, will become ET. After proper investigation, they may be moved to tirage. We cannot accept simply the cellar’s word, as experience shows they often say what suits them best or what has been agreed with the meeting organizers.
PICTO CO (Commercial)
Identifies cava caps from producers, brand holders or sparkling wine producers, individuals, etc., that do not follow a normal commercialization circuit by editors or persons with or without authorization from cellars, brand holders, or sparkling wine makers, whose purpose is sale or exchange.
Those from Collector Meetings where one or more caps are bottled and simultaneously handed out dry will all be cataloged with the CO mark.
NOTE: excluded caps
Handmade and/or artistic caps without a producer or brand holder mark.
All caps from producers, brand holders, sparkling wine producers, ET, and CO not yet released to the market will be removed from pending validation.
New caps with insignificant color or cliché variants will not be validated.
PICTO “P.C.” – (Collection Caps).
“Collection Caps” are considered those issued by individuals (without cellar permission, others that request it to make a few and then do as they wish), brand holders (with or without trademark registration), cellars (some now closed), whose sole purpose is their sale via vendor stalls (legal or not) at meetings or other means, and sometimes used by the issuer for stock or exchange.
Almost all are “dry” caps, except some made by ETs, where it is understood that at least some have been bottled; those will continue with the ET mark.
Also considered with this mark are “promotional” caps, including those (bottled or not) given as gifts at events related to the world of caps, such as lunches, dinners, commemorative acts or others.
These caps fall into this category, can be marked and will count in the ranking.
PLASTIC CAPS.
For a few years, plastic caps were tried as replacements for cork caps to reduce costs and provide better aseptic guarantees than cork might always provide.
Some plastic caps had the brand engraved on the top, sometimes in a kind of plate that could even be separated from the cap; others had simple printed paper inside.
Only personalized caps, not generic, will be validated.
SCREW CAPS.
These screw onto the bottle neck.
They are usually for small bottles used by cava companies supplying airlines and rail companies and that can be easily opened.
Normally they are inside plastic caps.
Only personalized caps, top or inside, not generic, will be validated.
CROWN CAPS.
In the 1960s, to popularize cava, this type of caps started being used for small bottles that could be cava or a wine called “granvàs,” whose second fermentation is done in large tanks instead of bottles, making it sometimes impossible to know if the caps correspond to one product or the other.
Only personalized caps, not generic, will be validated.
MISCELLANEOUS.
This section will include caps made of other materials not included in any cataloging category.
They must be issued by cellars, may be advertising, and always personalized.
Also, the so-called “staples,” personalized or not, will not be validated.
The committee reserves the right to catalog doubtful caps where it deems most appropriate, taking into account available information.