Prosecco

What is Prosecco? Why is Prosecco so popular? Why are some so cheap? Why can real Prosecco only be produced in Italy? Is there good & bad Prosecco?

There are so many questions to be asked and answered in the world of Prosecco. It gives jobs to tens of thousands of individuals and joy to millions across the globe.

So, where do we begin when exploring Prosecco? It’s a lot to cram into a single article, but let’s try.

Prosecco is a word and product that most of us have heard of; it’s now a household name, known as fun and easy bubbly to enjoy, some people will have never tasted, some enjoy it once a year or on very special occasions and some enjoy a glass almost every day of the week. It’s available in every major supermaket to be tried from as little as £5.65 per bottle (perhaps more if you’re reading in the future).

The Prosecco Industry is filled with people from all aspects of life, from the vineyard managers to nurture the ground, vines and grapes and the winemakers to craft the perfect blend, from the people who work on with nature, making it all happen, to the people responsible for sharing their creations, the managing directors, marketing teams, tour guides, event organises, distributers, importers, brand ambassadors, sales people and so many more, the world of Prosecco is vast, not just in the glass.

After buying your bottle of Prosecco, you may not want to drink it straight away, the best way to store Prosecco at home is to ensure it’s kept lying on it’s side so the liquid is always in contact with the cork, and ensuring it’s in a constent cool and dark location, as heat can speed up the aging within the bottle and ‘lightstike’ can cause damage to the liquid. Although saying this, Prosecco is not meant for prolonged ageing. Your bottle of Prosecco is always best enjoyed as soon as possible, so keeping it on the kitchen counter for a week (or even better, in your fridge) isn’t going to negatively affect the taste experience.

You can store Prosecco for a few years, we recently did a Tasting of Vintage Prosecco to discover the results. But Does Prosecco Go Off? The short answer is no.

Every bottle of Prosecco has it’s own personaility, it’s own taste and flavour, including differnet sugar levels, different terrior, different towns and region, winemakering skills, and more, so when buying a bottle of Prosecco, there is information on each bottle that tells you about the wine, understanding How To Read A Prosecco Label can be difficult for new comers, we put together a guide to help out, when you become a bit familiar with Prosecco, it becomes easier to understand the difference, but it will require you to taste the diference to trully understand them.

What is Prosecco? Simply put, Prosecco is ‘Sparkling Wine’, which is produced in the Charmat Method / Tank Method, in the Prosecco Region, in Northern Italy with the Glera Grape.

Prosecco has one main grape, the Glera grape, although when it comes to Rosé Prosecco, each bottle must contain at least 85% of the Glera grape, with the addition of 10 – 15% of Pinot Nero which can be added.

Prosecco have different Classifications, which help to identify the quality and style of each bottle.

• DOC – Prosecco – DOC Prosecco is grown on the flat Vineyards of Prosecco, as of 2020 Prosecco DOC had 24,450 hectares of vineyards with 1,169 winemakers and 347 Prosecco houses. Rosé Prosecco comes under the DOC classification.
• DOCG – Prosecco Valdobbiadene Superiore – All DOCG Prosecco is produced from grapes grown on hillside Vineyards and are only handpicked. This area is between Valdobbiadene and Conegliano
• DOCG – Asolo Prosecco Superiore – Considered to contain a finer terroir to grow grapes.
• DOCG – Prosecco Valdobbiadene Superiore Rive – Only 43 communes can be labeled as such.
• DOCG – Prosecco Superiore di Cartizze

Cartizze – The Grand Cru of Prosecco is like the Iberian ham of meats, Mayfair on the Monopoly board and red diamonds when it comes to precious stones. It is the most desired and arguably the finest Prosecco style on the market, made within a precious and heavenly located spot of the Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG Superiore region, with a single acre of land petching upwards of 1 million euros, the most expansive peice of vineyard you can buy, more expensive than anything within the Champagne region.

How do you pronounce Cartizze? “Car – Titz – Say“

You may have noticed that Prosecco is on average cheaper than Champagne, the main reason is because of the time commitment, Prosecco requires 30 days before it can sold, Champagne requires 15 months.

It’s also because Prosecco DOC has positioned itself in the UK market as the cheap alternative to Champagne, the fun and bubbly drink to enjoy, it’s more afforable, so more people can enjoy a little sparkle in their life, but when you start to explore Prosecco, you’ll soon see there are more expensive options as you progress in what is considered better quality. It’s not all black and white; normally, a DOCG is deemed as a higher quality compared to a DOC, but there are some fantastic DOC examples that by far blow some DOCG labels out of the water.

You can have Vintage Prosecco, where all the grapes within the bottle were grown and harvested during that year, compared to the normal N.V. / Non Vintage, which means that the winemaker has used grape juice (reserve wine) from previous harvests to craft the perfect blend for the house. Some big wineries need their ‘reserve wine’ to blend with their new grape juice to put together the same blend year on year, so its fan base knows they’ll always enjoy the same taste.

If you’re based in Venice, Italy, one of our wonderful writers, Sonnay Alvarez put together a great peice, From Venice to Vineyards: The Magic of Prosecco, showing us how easy it can be to explore the Prosecco region.

Prosecco DOC Closes 2024 With Record Results at All Time High of 660 Million Bottles, Prosecco is the most sold bottle of bubbly in the world, it increased 7% over 2023, with an estimated market value of 3.6 billion euros, compair that to Champagne which sold 271.4 million bottles in 2024, down 9.2% from 2023.

Does Prosecco Have Any Health Benefits? The short answer yes, you can find out how exactly on Glass of Bubbly.

Prosecco is a perfect sparkling wine to enjoy on its own or to pair with a wide range of different foods, it can be someone’s full time job, finding the perfect combinations for Pairing Prosecco and Food together.

There is of course more to find out about Prosecco, it’s a constantly evolving industry, which we aim to always highlight here on Glass of Bubbly, it’s a wonderful industry to be involed in, from an amature perspective to becoming the next Master of Wine, the industry is open and welcoming to all with a passion for a Glass of Prosecco.

If you still have Prosecco questions, you might find the answers here: Top 10 Most Asked Questions About Prosecco