Prosecco – a Favourite Glass of Summer Bubbles

Last Updated on May 17, 2022

Just in time for Summer – a Guide to Prosecco 

What do you reach for when you want a glass of something bubbly?  Chances are, it’s Prosecco – the perfect drink to enjoy in the sun. But, do you know what goes into making those bubbles?  Like many other types of wine which are geographically controlled, Prosecco can only be made in a specific part of Italy. But, unlike many types of sparkling wine, Prosecco is made using a unique method so it’s really quite different to Champagne, Cava or even Franciacorta. 

In order to be labelled as Prosecco, 85% of the grapes used must be Glera – an indigenous Italian white grape. Other grapes which can be used include Chardonnay, Pinot Bianco, Pinot Grigio and Pinot Noir (which is specifically used in the making of Rose Prosecco) and less well-known grapes Verdiso, Bianchetta Trevigiana, Perera, and Glera Lunga.

When you look at a bottle of Prosecco you should spot a cap tag with the DOC or DOCG label. To qualify as DOC Prosecco, the wine can come from any of nine provinces in Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. The area of Italy that produces Prosecco sits between the Adriatic and the Dolomites offering a unique terroir and microclimate which is perfect for cultivating the Glera grape

Prosecco DOC Treviso and Prosecco DOC Trieste come from two geographic areas. To qualify for one of these special labels, 100% of the grape harvest, winemaking and bottling have to take place within those provinces.

Finally, the DOCG label is unique to Prosecco produced in two areas within the regions. The first, the Conegliano Valdobbiadene area, is a hilly area in northeast Italy which borders the DOC production area. The second smaller area is Asolo Prosecco around the nearby town of Asola. Prosecco Superiore is always spumante and comes only from these DOCG areas.

What really makes Prosecco so unique though is that the fizz in a bottle comes from a completely different process to that used for most sparkling wines. It’s a technique that is often called the Charmant method. The technique was created by Federico Martinotti in 1895 and later improved and patented by Eugène Charmat in 1907, a French inventor. So, you’ll find Prosecco is sometimes labelled as Metodo Martinotti in Italy, while in the few other places where it is made (Germany, Hungary and the USA for example) it might be called the Bulk Method or Tank Method 

Prosecco starts with primary fermentation in stainless steel vats to create low alcohol still wine. That is then transferred into the autoclave, a special stainless steel tank that is used for secondary fermentation. Yeast and sugar are added, a tirage, that starts the secondary fermentation which lasts for anything from 3-12 months. It’s at this stage that the wine becomes sparkling, with bubbles. The sparkling wine which results is cooled to stop fermentation and filtered to remove the lees. At this point, more sugar can be added, just like Champagne, a dosage which is used to create sweeter versions of the wine. The fizz is bottled under pressure and ready to be sold.

So, the whole process can take months rather than years and the end result is cheaper and often lighter than traditional-method sparkling wines. 

But, there are plenty of different producers, trying different ways to create the perfect Prosecco. I’ve been trying a whole range of different options, starting with one of the latest innovations. Pink or rosé Prosecco was only legalised in 2020. So, the two bottles of pink fizz which I enjoyed were relative newcomers to the world of wine. The back story is that the Prosecco consortium only started to allow Pinot Noir or Pinot Nero to be used in the making of Prosecco in May 2020. Pinot Noir can still only make up 10-15% of the wine (the majority must be Glera) and the second fermentation has to be for at least 60 days. And, all rosé Prosecco should be a single vintage, so you’ll see the word ‘Millesemato’ followed by the year the grapes were harvested. My two bottles of rose Prosecco came from Marca Ora, 2019 and Ca’ di Rajo 2019. I have to confess I really hadn’t appreciated how ‘new’ these wines were – and I do think that Prosecco lends itself very well to the rose expression. The Charmant method means that the wine spends less time on lees and the Glera grape is a lighter and fruitier grape than the traditional champagne grapes. So, the end result is the kind of fizz that works particularly well in summer – and the addition of Pinot Noir adds just enough extra body and roundness to help the wine pair with more substantial fish dishes.

At 11% the Marca Oro is the sort of sparkling wine I want to open on a warm summer’s evening as a light aperitif. It’s best served at 6-7C (a little colder than you’d normally serve champagne) in a larger wine glass rather than a flute. Ca’ di Rajo comes in at 11.5% and has a lovely rounded fruity mouth with strawberry and raspberry flavours. Both are easy to drink and work well as both an aperitif and paired with fish or vegetable dishes.

Like other wine categories, there are plenty of options to choose from when you are picking a Prosecco. We tried the Sunny Farm extra dry Prosecco which is 100% Glera and is organic, vegan and gluten-free. From the bottle, it’s a brilliant straw yellow colour with fruity aromas, a fresh and well-balanced taste and an elegant finish. With fine bubbles (perlage), this is an ‘extra dry’ Prosecco meaning it has a sugar content of between 12 and 17 grams per litre. The makers suggest serving this between 4-6C –  very well chilled  

My own preference is for Brut Prosecco where the residual sugar level has to be less than 12 grams per litre, something like the Riccardo Brut Prosecco DOC from Treviso, which I particularly like with seafood of any sort (we enjoyed ours with some simple oven-baked salmon with wild garlic butter). It should be served at 9C, much in the same way as Champagne. 

If like me, you like your sparkling wines bone dry, you’ll also find Prosecco with a zero dosage, though they will have residual sugar left from the grapes. The official categories for Prosecco are 

• BRUT when the residual sugar content is less than 12 g/l.
• EXTRA DRY when the sugar content varies between 12 and 17 g/l.
• DRY when the sugar content is between 17 and 32 g/l.
• DEMI-SEC when the sugar content varies between 32 and 50 g/l.

In addition to categorisation for residual sugar and one for geography, you can buy Prosecco with more or less bubbles (!)  Sparkling (Spumante) is the most common option in the UK, while semi-sparkling (Frizzante) has a light, frothy perlage that can seem almost velvety in texture. We tried the Fantinel Spumante Extra-Dry and thought it would make an excellent dessert wine with something like a tiramisu where the delicate texture of the cream and biscuit warrants a softer drink to complement it. Still Prosecco is called ‘Tranquillo’ but is also made with Glera grapes.

What makes Prosecco so popular is that somehow those bubbles feel truly celebratory. Whether you are opening a bottle for a special birthday or anniversary, or just celebrating a sunny afternoon, there’s nothing like a glass or two to make it feel like a special occasion.