Prosecco wines are Italy’s most popular sparklers. While it’s often compared to Champagne, it’s made with a different set of grapes and a different winemaking method.
As you’ll soon discover, there’s more to Prosecco than affordable bubbles. Learn more about this fascinating sparkler, including how to choose Prosecco, the different styles, the main winemaking region, Valdobbiadene, and what foods to pair with it.
“There’s more to Prosecco than affordable bubbles.”
What is Prosecco?
Technically, Prosecco is a sparkling wine that originates from the Valdobbiadene region in Veneto, Italy.
The wine is made with Prosecco grapes (also called “Glera”) and made into wine via the Charmat sparkling method, which gives wines approximately 3 atmospheres of pressure.
This means Prosecco’s bubbles typically last longer than beer (which has approximately 1.5 atmospheres of pressure) and not usually as long as Champagne (5-6 atmospheres of pressure).
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Prosecco Taste Is it sweet or dry?
Most Prosecco wines are produced in a dry, brut style. However, due to the grapes’ fruity flavors of green apple, honeydew melon, pear, and honeysuckle, it usually seems sweeter than it is. Even though brut is the most popular sweetness level of Prosecco sold in the market today, you can find styles that are sweeter if you seek them out. Here is how Prosecco is labeled for sweetness:
- Brut 0–12 g/L RS (residual sugar) – Up to a half gram of sugar per glass
- Extra Dry 12–17 g/L RS – Just over a half gram of sugar per glass
- Dry 17–32 g/L RS – Up to 1 gram of sugar per glass
By the way, if you haven’t had an Extra Dry Prosecco yet, this style offers a great balance between Prosecco’s fruit, tingly acidity, and subtle sweetness.
How to Serve Prosecco
Prosecco should be served cold (38–45 °F / 3–7 °C), and most will agree that the best glass to serve Prosecco in is a sparkling tulip glass. The tulip glass is ideal because it’s tall and slender, which helps preserve the bubbles’ finesse for longer, while the larger bulb at the top helps collect more of the wine’s floral aromas.
The Perfect Mimosa Wine
If you love a traditional brunch, Prosecco is our favorite pick for a perfect mimosa. The fruitiness in this wine amplifies the citrus flavors of the orange juice and it bodes well with brunch-style foods. By the way, a great mimosa is 2 parts sparkling wine to 1 part juice.
Pairing Food with Prosecco
Prosecco is surprisingly versatile and pairs well with a wide range of cuisine genres and dishes. It’s one of those wines that can be served as an aperitif (before food) but also works well alongside the main entrée.
The ideology behind pairing Prosecco is to use it as a palate cleanser alongside medium-intensity foods (chicken, tofu, shrimp, or pork dishes). Because of its sweet aromatics and bubbles, Prosecco matches well with spicy curries and Southeast Asian fare such as Thai, Vietnamese, Hong Kong, and Singaporean cuisine.
Tips On Finding High-Quality Prosecco
- Prosecco DOC: The most common quality level of Prosecco which can be made in nine provinces spanning Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia regions.
- Prosecco Conegliano Valdobbiadene Superiore DOCG: Grapes are blended from a smaller, more focused growing area between Valdobbiadene and Conegliano in the hills. These hills are known to produce some of the most concentrated Prosecco wines.
- Asolo Prosecco DOCG: Across the river from the Conegliano-Valdobbiadene region you can find another smaller hillside region producing excellent wines with high-quality standards. Wines are labeled Asolo Prosecco on the bottle (and formerly: Colli Asolani).
- Prosecco Conegliano Valdobbiadene Superiore Rive DOCG: Wines made from specific communes or vineyards within Conegliano-Valdobbiadene. There are 43 communes that can be labeled as such.
- Valdobbiadene Superiore di Cartizze DOCG: A micro-region of just 265 acres just outside of Valdobbiadene (towards the Westside), commonly considered to be one of the finest terroirs for Prosecco in the world.
DID YOU KNOW? There is a rare, natural Prosecco called Col Fondo.
Where Prosecco is Made
The best vineyards are located in the hills around Asolani and Valdobbiadene. by Elena Zamprogno
The Conegliano-Valdobbiandene region is a stunningly beautiful set of green hills covered with vineyards. It rains quite a lot here and as a result, the best vineyards generally are found on southern facing slopes with good drainage and gentle winds that dry the grapes out after their daily shower. Prosecco has been made in this area for around 300 years (although earlier styles were likely less bubbly).
If you’re interested in going (and have an adventurist streak), one of the highlights of the region is a fun-and-challenging cycling race called the Gran Fondo Prosecco which weaves up through the hills. Anyone can participate, and you can celebrate your win with the region’s wine.
