A Guide To The Glera Grape

Have you ever heard about the Glera grape?

What if I tell you that, even if you haven’t, I’m pretty sure you know more about Glera than you actually realise!

If you are wondering how you’ll find the answer in the below guide to Glera.

Let’s begin!

What is the Glera grape?

Glera is a white variety grape characterized by large berries greenish-yellow in color, high yield, floral and fruity aromas and predominantly used for the production of Prosecco DOC and DOCG, the Italian most widely exported sparkling wine.

Where is Glera grown?

Glera is primarily grown in the Northern East part of Italy in the regions of Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia. There is as well a minor production in the King Valley in Australia.

Glera grapes ripen early and have good resistance to pests and diseases. To retain a high level of acidity, a very important feature for sparkling wines, Glera grapes need to ripen slowly.

The Northern East Italian regions are perfectly suited for this task as they benefit from the cooling breeze of the Adriatic sea.

What are Glera wine styles?

Glera is predominantly used for the production of sparkling wines that depending on the winemaking process can lead to Prosecco, Spumante, and Frizzante.

The Martinotti Method, also known as Charmat or Tank Method, is the winemaking technique usually employed.

This is a vinification process that allows the production of sparkling wines in a simpler, faster, and therefore cheaper way compared to the Traditional Method used for the production of Champagne.

And yes, in case you are wondering, this is one of the main reasons why Prosecco is cheaper than Champagne. Find more about the differences between Prosecco and Champagne here.

Glera though is also used to produce still white wine, although this is less known worldwide and locally consumed.

In both cases expect a light body wine, with pale lemon color and a good amount of acidity, which makes it very refreshing, that is usually not particularly suited for aging.

What are Glera’s typical notes?

Glera varietal has typical fruit and floral aromas that can be found as well in your glass of Prosecco.
Some of the most common notes are white peach, pear, lemon, apple, and white flowers.

With what foods do Glera pair best?

Given that you’ll primarily find Glera vinified as Prosecco, let’s focus on the best Prosecco food pairings.
The good news is that sparkling wines are very versatile when it comes down to food pairings, bubbles cleanse your palate, and can be used throughout the meal from starter to dessert.

French fries, salads, charcuterie, salty olives, and bruschetta are all very recommended appetizers along with Pizza, seafood risotto, or pasta.

Given that the most typical Prosecco you’ll find is extra-dry and as such will have a little bit of extra sugar in there, you can dare pare it also with spicey dishes on top of the chicken and pork.

Fish wise you have a wide selection, if you ask me, fish & chips are an obvious choice, but any other kind of grilled or fried fish would go well with it.

We can’t, of course, forget about cheese, and here again thanks to its bubbles and high acidity we can safely pick cream cheese like Brie and Taleggio or more salty cheese like Parmigiano and Pecorino.

Finally, for dessert, I’d go for pastries and dark chocolate.

In Conclusion
By now if you have been through our guide you should be an expert on Glera.

In all fairness, you probably knew about Glera more than you thought as I’m sure most of you had at least a glass of Prosecco already.

We hope the above guide was useful to you and that now you can make the most of your bubbly glass of Prosecco. Cheers!

Chiara Gomiero
handywineguide.com