November 30, 2021 |
Andrew Villarreal
Cheers to Prosecco
Prosecco? What is Prosecco?
If you’re not familiar with Prosecco, let me introduce you.
Prosecco (Pro-sekko) is a light-bodied, dry, sparkling white wine with refreshing acidity from Italy’s Northern Veneto region. The grape name is Glera, the style is either sparkling (spumante) or semi-sparkling (frizzante). This wine has aromas of Green Apple, Honeydew Melon, and Bartlett Pear. The high altitude and cool climates allows this wine to show bright, fresh fruit and floral aromas that make this wine very refreshing on the palate. There has been quite the evolution of taste from very sweet to very dry, in the 1960’s Prosecco was sweet and barely discernible from the sweet wines from Asti at the time. Over the years the sweetness has subsided and has given way to the more recognizable taste as it is know today, with notes of orchard fruit and little florals with a hint of minerality. There are varying levels of quality and price. Due to the diversity in this category there is a lot of room for great wines to try and explore. There can be some examples that are semi sweet and there are examples that are bone dry.
150 producers generate over 600 million bottles as of 2018. Prosecco is made in the Charmat Method, a little different from that of Champagne but still yields a bubbly wine. The Charmat Method is similar to the Tradional Method or Méthod Champenoise where winemakers need to ferment grape juice in a sealed container to capture the bubbles (CO2) in the wine. Where these two methods differ is where Champagne producers add yeast inside the bottle and allow the wine to finish fermenting where CO2 is produced naturally, the Prosecco producers take the semi sparking wine and inject CO2 into a large stainless steel container and the wine instantly become carbonated. This is a more cost effective way of making a sparkling wine.
Prosecco is very food friendly and can pair well with a wide range of foods and flavors, such as salad, seafood, and spicy dishes. Try some of these food and wine pairings or venture off and try something new, have fun with it and enjoy!
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Andrew Villarreal
Sommelier / Wine Coach
Andrew Villarreal
Sommelier / Wine Coach
