Prosecco.  Those easy-going bubbles from Italy.  There is a history here that goes back 2000 years.  The wines of these steep lush green hills have evolved into the bubbling beverage that is easy to drink and has an unexpected depth of history. Join us as we dive in deep, to Prosecco and further into the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG

Prosecco

Prosecco comes from the Northeast part of Italy, from Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia.  The wine is made primarily from the grape glera, which has been grown here since the Roman Empire.

The Prosecco DOC spans 4 provinces in Friuli Venezia Giulia: Gorizia, Pordenone, Trieste and Udine; as well as 5 provinces in Veneto: Belluno, Padua, Treviso, Venice and Vicenza.  There are two special titles, Prosecco DOC Treviso and Prosecco DOC Trieste that can be used if the harvesting, wine-making and bottling all take place entirely within these regions.

The history

The name Prosecco, is first heard in reference to a town on the far north east of Italy.  It’s that region, sitting on the east side of the Adriatic Sea, surrounded by Slovenia. This tiny sliver on the coast on the Gulf of Trieste is the home to the village of Prosecco which is now a suburb of the city of Trieste. It sits 249 meters above the sea.

References have been found to histories of Pliny the Elder that tell us that the “Pucino” wine from the Prosecco area were a favorite of Empress Livia (wife of Emperor Octavian Augustus).  She lived from 58BC to 29AD and claimed this wine was what enabled her to live such a long life.

It appears there is a long history of Prosecco.

The grape “glera”

The grape for Prosecco wines was long simply called “prosecco”.  In 2009 the name was officially changed to “glera”.  There was so much of this grape being grown world wide, the region needed to make the change to protect the region.  Now the grape is “glera” and the wines from this specific region are “Prosecco”.  You will still find some producers around the world calling their wine Prosecco.  (particularly in Australia).

Glera is the primary grape for this wine.  It is a white grape and it produces long golden colored bunches of grapes.

85% of the wine in a Prosecco must be from glera.  They do allow other grapes to fill out the rest including: Bianchella, Chardonnay, Glera lunga, Perera, Pinot Blanco, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Nero and Verdiso.  If they use Pinot Nero (Pinot Noir) it must not have skin contact, it must be vinified like a white wine.

Vines for Prosecco are found between the Dolomites (the Northern Italian Alps) and the Adriatic Sea.

The styles of Prosecco

The Italian Method

When you think of Prosecco, you will be thinking of the Spumante style.  It is the most famous, made in the Italian Method which is also called the Martinotti Method or metodo Italiano.  If you are familiar with sparkling wine making techniques you can think of this as the Charmat, Tank method or cuve close. The method began in Italy, created by Federico Martinotti in 1895, the Frenchman Eurgene Charmat further developed this method in 1907.

This method to create bubbles, places the fermented base wine in a pressurized tank or autoclave.  Sugar and yeast are added (the liqueur de tirage) and the tank is sealed and pressurized.  So as the wine ferments for a second time (all those yeasties gobbling up the sugar and tooting out carbon dioxide) the CO2 in forced into the wine.  This method gives you bubbles, at a level of 2 to 4 atmospheres of pressure (compared to Method Traditional, like Champagne where you get 5-6 atmospheres of pressure).

Sweetness levels

Prosecco can vary in sweetness from Brut to Extra Dry to Demi-sec, brut being the driest.  This is achieved by reducing the temperature at the end of the secondary fermentation, when the desired sweetness level is achieved.  (Kill the yeast with cold, before they finish eating all the sugar.)

They do make two other styles, Frizzante which has very light effervescence and Tranquillo or still.

The different styles will give you different aromas.  Frizzante has notes of wisteria and lemon, while Spumante has apple, banana and rose.

I will mention that I have heard of wineries in Prosecco producing with the traditional method, with secondary fermentation in the bottle. That’s something more to explore.

Prosecco Conegliano Valdobbiadene Superiore DOCG

A step up from the Prosecco DOC is the Prosecco Conegliano Valdobbiadene Superiore DOCG.  Grown on steep hillsides between the two towns of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene, these are some of the most concentrated Proseccos.

Conegliano is the home to Italy’s first school of winemaking – The School of Oenology was founded in 1876.

The region is stunning with green hills, southern facing slopes, great drainage.  They get a daily rain shower followed by gently winds that dry the grapes so they don’t develop mold or disease.  It sits between 50 and 500 meters above sea level, with micro climates that allow variety and nuance in the wines.  Overall winters are long but not too cold, as the Prealps protect the area from the cold north winds. Summers are hot but breezy.  They also have a good diurnal shift with a 12- to 14 degree difference in day and night time temperatures in the harvest season.  This helps to set the lovely aromas in the wine.

Vineyards can be 80 to 100 years old and there is biodiversity between the vines that they are working hard to keep.  Subtle variations in the vines allow depth to the wines.  15 years ago the Academy started mapping these differences and taking cuttings to start new mother vines, to preserve this genetic biodiversity.

The hills are steep (up to 70%!) and pulleys are used to haul the buckets of grapes out at harvest.  It takes 600 man hours of work per hectare to make this wine.

The region has 13 villages making Prosecco as well as the flagship area of Cartizze near the village of Valdobbiadene.

Other DOCGs

There are a few more levels, that we won’t explore today, but they are worth mentioning (and well worth getting back to discuss!)

• Asolo Prosecco Superiore DOCG – in the Asolo region which was formerly known as Colli Asolani)
• Prosecco Valdobbiadene Superiore Rive DOCG – This gets into the nitty gritty of vineyards or communes, of which there are 43! (Can’t wait to dig into that!)
• Valdobebiadene Superiore di Cartizze DOCG – This is a select area on the west side of Valdobbiadene of just 265 acres. They see this as the finest land for growing Prosecco in the world (think of it like the Chablis Grand Cru). (Nino Franco does make a wine from this DOCG!)