PROSECCO ON A HIGH
The combined annual production of Prosecco DOC [exceeding 500 million bottles for the first time in 2020] and Prosecco DOCG [92m bottles] has long since overtaken that of Champagne, which averages about 300m bottles shipped annually. And easy accessibility has possibly created a certain over-familiarity and perception of uniformity among consumers. But Prosecco is evolving, offering diverse and exciting new routes into Italy’s most popular sparkling wine, in ways that challenge the stereotypes. As Luca Giavi, director of the Prosecco DOC consorzio says, the mindset needs revising. Today we have to think not of ‘Il Prosecco’, but of the plural ‘I Prosecchi’.
CONEGLIANO VALDOBBIADENE SUPERIORE DOCG
Modifications to the production norms in 2019 introduced two new categories into the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Superiore DOCG: extra brut (up to 6g/L residual sugar) and the bottle-refermented Sui Lieviti (on the lees). Incidentally, both categories were already officially recognised in the smaller DOCG of Asolo Prosecco, across the Piave river.
Bottle-refermented Prosecco – rather than by the commonly used Charmat ‘tank’ method – has long been produced in the DOCG area, but until recently it lacked official recognition. Following a method pre-dating modern vat refermentation, Sui Lieviti (also known as ‘col fondo’) is made by bottling still wine in early spring with its own sugar and fine lees to make a delicate, finely integrated bubbly and a bone-dry, tangy, citrusminerally character. The issue currently engaging producers is the carbonic pressure of this style of wine. Sui Lieviti is for full-on, bubbly ‘spumante’, while traditional wines, with roughly half the atmospheres, are officially ‘frizzante’.
Many producers, including
