The Northeast Italy Series - Veneto: Prosecco di Conegliano-Valdobbiandene
Written By: Dylan York on Thu, Jul 24th 2008
The region of Veneto is located between the regions of Trentino-Alto Adige (west) and Friuli-Venezia Giulia (east) and borders Austria to the north and the Po River to the south. The region contains 3 DOCG, 25 DOC, and 10 IGT wine appellations that together produce over 110 million cases of wine a year. The majority of this is inexpensive Soave, Bardolino, Valpolicella, and Pinot Grigio. On the high-quality side, Veneto has a wide variety of wines with everything from bubbles, dry & sweet white wines, light fruity reds, robust age-worthy reds to rich dessert wines. There are many different grape varieties grown in Veneto ranging from international to indigenous. White varietals such as Prosecco, Garganega, Pinot Bianco, Tocai, and Chardonnay make up the more noble white wines and black grapes like Corvina, Rondinella, and Molinara make-up the popular red wines. Recently there has been a great deal of Bordeaux varietals being produced under the IGT designation, but I have yet to try them. Out of all the wines in Veneto I chose to focus on Prosecco di Conegliano-Valdobbiadene DOC, Soave Superiore DOCG, Recioto di Soave DOCG, Valpolicella DOC and Amarone Della Valpolicella DOC. These in my opinion are the wines of note and I was interested in exploring the technicalities in their regional aspects and production. Let's start this series with Prosecco, also referred to as Italian Champagne.
Prosecco is the name given to sparkling wines produced in and around the towns of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene. The wine is produced by using the Charmat method, where the secondary fermentation takes place in a tank. There are two levels of quality designations: the standard Prosecco and Superiore di Cartizze. Cartizze is a specific hillside vineyard in the municipality of Valdobbiadene that is known for producing a "cru" level of Prosecco. All wines must be made with at least 85% of the Prosecco grape and the other 15% can be other varieties such as Verdisio, Bianchetta, and Perera. The wine is made in both dry and sweet styles and can be frizzante or spumante. Note: Frizzante means slightly fizzy and spumante is fully sparkling. Since Prosecco is technically produced in three areas, Conegliano, Valdobbiadene, and the hillside area of Cartizze, you may find discernable differences between them. The vineyards of Conegliano are lower-lying compared to the steep hills of Valdobbiadene and typically produce a more rich and fruit driven wine. Valdobbiadene is a hilly region and the wines tend to be more refined and complex. Superiore di Cartizze is a single-vineyard Valdobbiadene where the producers more often use 100% Prosecco in their wines and more attention is given to the vineyard. You also have to consider that a good Prosecco starts around $12 USD and can range up to $25, so you get what you pay for. One of my favorites has always been the non-vintage Nino Franco "Rustico" Prosecco di Valdobbiadene which should retail in the mid teens. They also have a vintage version if you want a step up.
Next time I will tell you about the many faces of Soave from the dry white wine to the sweet and sticky Recioto di Soave.
