There’s a fascinating challenge that exists with Italian Prosecco. Quite simply, it’s not viewed as a premium wine.
Despite being produced in astounding volumes – 627 million bottles in 2021, almost double that of Champagne – Prosecco, as whole, is stereotypically an inoffensive, sweet, easy fizz.
For the producers of the small Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG appellation – the northern Italian Prosecco heartland area of 8710 hectares that lies within the huge Prosecco DOC – this is a problem.
Here, on the hillsides of the Conegliano Valdobbiadene zone, making Prosecco is an expensive proposition (in context of your standard supermarket Prosecco DOC). The cost challenge starts in the vineyards, where the steep green slopes aren’t easy to farm. Fruit is almost always picked by hand, glyphosate is forbidden (since 2019), and producers average 700 manual work hours per hectare. Further, the DOCG maximum yield is 13.5t/ha, which is still above Champagne with 12t/ha in 2021, but nowhere near the 18t/ha Prosecco DOC yield.
So less fruit, and more expensive to grow it.
This cost challenge isn’t a new thing, either. Back in 2015, I was in Valdobbiadene (which is beautiful, go visit) and couldn’t ignore the hesitancy among even the better producers to charge more than €7 for their premium DOCG wine. Even now, seven years later, the ex-cellar price for Prosecco Superiore DOCG is €5.93 (2021 figures).
All of this means that the Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG Consorzio must convince both trade and consumers that their more expensive Prosecco is worth a trade-up. That’s also why I found myself at a masterclass hosted by ‘Mr Sparkling Wine’ Tyson Stelzer recently, with wines shipped from Italy and Diego Tomasi’s brilliant study on Prosecco as a reference point (see below).
This was serious. And what a pleasure to see a proper lineup of great Italian Prosecco here in Australia. We see piecemeal tastings here and there, but it’s rare to get a full perspective-changer like this masterclass. Tyson is the consummate events professional too, and willing to address some of the elephants in the room.
Specifically, there are two pachyderms in this Prosecco house.
The biggest one is sweetness. Prosecco uses the same, utterly messed up sweetness scale as Champagne, which means that the word ‘Dry’ on a wine label is reserved for wines that are the sweetest.
No, it makes no sense to me either.
The Prosecco residual sugar scale thus goes like this: Brut zero is 0-3g/L, Extra Brut is 0-6g/L, Brut is 0-12g/L, Extra Dry is 12-17g/L and Dry is 17-32g/L.
Interestingly, Extra Dry makes up 65% of Prosecco production and Brut 30%. So generally, Prosecco – Superiore or not – is going to have some residual sugar.
The sugar isn’t a problem when you have acidity, as it all balances. But so often, more sugar is just more sugar, not more drinkability. What’s more tProsecco (or Glera) grapes in this part of Italy has lost 1g/L of acidity (largely malic acid) in recent decades, so there is a need for more ‘Brut’ and less ‘Dry’ (to use the stupid scale).
That was born out in this tasting, too – my favourite wines were typically drier, with the extra sweetness occasionally welcome in some styles but otherwise just shaving off definition for the most part.
The sugar thing is a big issue. The best Italian Prosecco, from the beautiful, steep, green ‘pre-alp’ slopes of the Conegliano Valdobbiadene zone, are magical wines where you want to revel in the definition. They’re crystalline, vivacious, fragrant-yet-generous, airy white wines of acidity and purity, with the edge of frizzante to lift the energy even higher. It doesn’t need more sugar! A smidgen is good, but more than 5-10g/L residual sugar (RS) rarely works. By the end of this tasting, I was just listing the residual first, as it foretold so much.
Oh, and the other elephant, which was brushed over pretty quickly, is the disgraceful behaviour of Prosecco producers around the name Prosecco. It’s not a region, it’s a historical grape variety, and the move to rename it Glera just to claim some turf over Australian producers is arrogant protectionism of the worse kind. You can argue endlessly with me about how Prosecco is a place and the historical connotations, but this practice of effectively trademarking grape varieties is deplorable (and Vermentino is next).
Anyway, back to the masterclass wines.
The following Prosecco were tasted quickly, non-blind, with a whole array of information in front of me. My kingdom for more notes in masterclasses like this! RS, yield, plant density, time on lees, pH, atmospheres. It’s like a wine nerd wet dream! Please, world, copy the detail and order that Tyson & the Consorzio brought for this tasting and replicate it every day. Please.
Wines were served in small flights and additional information in Italics.
Flight 1: DOCG Rive
Rive means slopes of steep hills and is a ‘geographical selection’ typically from the most precipitous slopes in a single commune. There are 43 rive in the denomination, spanning 493ha across towns, with each rive named after the hills from which the grapes originate. Max yields 13t/ha, fruit is handpicked. 3.2 million bottles produced were produced in 2021, average ex-cellar price of €7.49.
Andreoia 26°1° Rive di Col San Martino Extra Brut 2021
Bright, light and airy style, quite persistent frothy mouthfeel, delicate with a gently tart finish. Maybe a little light, but lovely purity and excellent acidity. A lovely, bone dry (0g/L RS) wine that shows the style doesn’t need residual (but you’ve got to love acidity). 18/20, 93/100.
La Tordera Otreval Rive di Guia Extra Brut 2021
There is this wonderful green fruit freshness to a Prosecco like this. Fresh but pulls through with more green melon on the palate, more generosity after the Andreoia, less crystalline purity, but a step up in that unripe melon flavour. Bone dry (0g/L residual sugar), and the acidity is resounding (with a similar TA to the last wine 5.7g/L). Long too. 18/20, 93/100.
L’Antica Quercia Matiu Rive di Scomigo Brut 2021
Froth and fruit intensity, but it feels just a smidgen sweaty. This is Prosecco tipping with fruit intensity, and more mid-palate punch for this lineup, but a little delicacy. Only 5.5g/L residual sugar, but it seemed broader. Drink it right now. 17.5/20, 91/100.
Valdobbiadene townshipFlight 2: More DOCG Rive
Masottina R.D.O Ponenta Rive di Ogliano Brut 2021
Just a little sherbet, but it has just 4g/l residual. That pretty, pink fruit fragrance is quite alluring – where does it come from? Commercially attractive and long enough, with an excellent sweetness/acid balance. 17.7/20, 92/100.
L’Antica Quercia Ario Rive di Scomigo Extra Dry 2021
Top of the pops. This combines that pink fruit candied character with a body that carries off it perfectly. The 13g/L of residual sugar makes this more complete, filling out the palate with a gently pink fruited, generous expression. Flavour and purity, the key here is balancing the sweetness and acidity. This is just right for a fuller mode. 17.7/20, 92/100.
Andreola Vigna Ochera Rive di Rolle Dry 2020
It’s hard to miss the 24g/l residual here. It’s well contained, with the acidity to match, and the style ends up rounder, full, and generous. This will be very popular, but the palate gets to be a bit much. 17.5/20, 91/100.
I think this is inside the Cartizze area (or very close)Flight 3: Cartizze
Cartizze is a 108ha sub zone to the east of Valdobbiadene with the steepest slopes and and its own regulations. Historically these wines are made with more sweetness (and produced from grapes with more acidity). Fruit is handpicked, the permitted yield is 12t/ha and 1.6 million bottles were produced in 2021 with an ex-cellar average price of €13.47.
Vigne Sancol Cartizze Brut NV
Just a lovely wine. 7g/L RS and yet with closer to 5.8g/L TA (vs 5.5 in previous brackets), it’s all balanced. Wonderful pink apple fruit, lovely delicacy, a wine that is light and airy, but yet the palate is bountiful. There is this pink apple lightness yet with flavour here that is Prosecco at its best. 18.5/20, 94/100.
Villa Sandi La Rivetta Cartizze Brut 2021
You can very much see the apple juice sweetness here, it becomes a rather singular flavour. The palate profile is really appealing though – generous red apple, great intensity, a long finish. It’s just slightly blunted by sugar, but the volume? Gee it’s a grandiose wine. 18/20, 93/100.
Col Vetoraz Cartizze Dry 2021
Very sweet. 24g/L residual. I can see the intention, but it’s so blunt in its expression of clarified apple juice. it’s not a clumsy wine, and the sugar is well integrated, but in context it’s a pretty simple beast. 17.5/20, 91/100.
Valdobbiadene vineyards. They’re luscious and very steep.Flight 4: Extra Brut & Brut
A real mixed bag. By this stage, looking at the sweetness before tasting was almost a distraction. Would it stand out in the wines? Ugh. Anyway, a mixed bag from all over the DOCG here.
Col Voetoraz Extra Brut Cuvee 0 2021
That 0.7g/L RS is notable – very much a pristine wine, but it’s also very singular – like drinking mineral water. You dig and dig, but it feels like unripe green apples. Interest and undoubted purity, but a little sugar would’ve helped. 17.5/20, 91/100.
Bellenda San Fermo Millesimato Brut 2021
7g/L RS. Quite juicy, generous, yet not unattractive style. I like how the palate gets filled out with that apple juice juiciness. It’s just a little lacking in detail though. 17/20, 90/100.
Diotisalvi Empatico Rive di Farra di Soligo Millesimato Extra Brut 2020
3g/L RS. I don’t think the age helps us – the fruit is a bit faded and honestly, the fruit isn’t there. A little more sugar would have actually helped counter the slight bitterness. I’m less of a fan of this. 16.5/20, 88/100
More Valdobbiadene (I think)Flight 5: Brut
Le Bertole Brut NV
8g/l RS. Generous. Lovely balance here between acidity and freshness, the energy is good too. I would have picked the RS to be lower. Great balance, if erring on the firm side to the finish. 17.5/20, 91/100.
Le Colture Fagher Brut NV
9g/L RS. The tang of the acidity drives this, but the fruit flavour isn’t there to match it out. It’s just a bit tartish, even if the freshness is great, and the sweetness is less balanced. Still pleasant. 17/20, 90/100.
Ruggeri Quartese Brut NV
9g/L, Bluntly sweetness, by contrast, the sweetness ends up as the final flavour. Easy appeal but less balanced. 16.5/20, 88/100.
Looking towards townFlight 6: Cartizze Dry
Dry! Ugh (insert Andrew hair pulling out emoji)! That said, I get the point with these wines – you get this huge mouthful of flavour, the residual sugar adding layers, the acidity, the whole amalgam offering plenty.
La Tordera Cartizze Dry 2021
100 year old vines. 18 g/L RS. It’s not unbalanced, and the white flower fragrance and delicacy is beautiful. Open, velvety expression and roundness. Gee that mouthfeel and that grandiosity is great, even if it could be better, cough, drier. 18/20, 93/100.
Le Bortole Cartizze Dry NV
28g/L RS. Notably, the most acidity of any wine in the lineup (6g/L TA). Yellow apple, velvety and juicy – apple juice with a creamed apple pie juiciness. Did I mention juice? Very pleasant and open and lovely, but does it have to be this sweet apple fruit plump? 17.5/20, 91/100.
Valdo Viviana Cartizze Dry NV
25g/L RS. Expressive and even quite opulent, the sweetness is part of the recipe here, even if it sticks out. I can nod to the generosity and interest, it’s certainly en mode. The sort of Prosecco you would want to drink on a hot day, ice cold, on the back of a boat in the Italian Rivera. 17.7/20, 92/100
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