What Is Spumante? How to Serve the Italian Sparkling Wine

Spumante (“foaming” in Italian) is a category of Italian sparkling wine from any grape variety. The addition of carbon dioxide gives spumante wines their signature fizzy mouthfeel. Spumante ranges from sparkling white wine (which uses chardonnay or pinot grigio grapes) to sparkling pinot noir and even sparkling rosé.

There are two production methods for spumante, a category of Italian sparkling wine. The Champagne method, or “méthode champenoise” in French, involves fermenting the sparkling wine in the bottle. In the Italian Martinotti-Charmat method (or simply Charmat method), the sparkling white wine undergoes a second fermentation in a barrel. The second fermentation process adds up to one percent additional alcohol by volume (ABV).

Spumante is technically a category of wine instead of a specific type of wine that uses one particular grape varietal. Its taste depends on its grapes, region, and length of the aging or fermentation processes. Producers further categorize spumante according to its sugar content, which also impacts the taste. Here are spumante’s six levels of sweetness, from driest to sweetest:

1. 1. Extra brut: These sparkling wines have the lowest sugar content, ranging from zero grams per liter to around six grams per liter. “Brut” means “dry” but refers to the absence of sweetness rather than an absence of moisture.
2. 2. Brut: With less than twelve grams of sugar per liter, brut spumante is a dry sparkling wine that is sweeter (less dry) than extra brut. A sparkling wine with less sugar will taste sweeter than a still white wine with the same sugar content.
3. 3. Extra dry: Sparkling wine with an extra dry label contains twelve to seventeen grams of sugar per liter. It is a dry wine, but it retains more sweetness than brut and extra brut spumantes. In Italy, it’s a tradition to drink extra dry sparkling wine before dinner.
4. 4. Dry: Sparkling wines containing seventeen to thirty-two grams of sugar per liter are dry sparkling wines. The flavor of dry spumante is similar to sweet apricots, which are sweet but somewhat astringent on the tongue.
5. 5. Demi-sec: Semi-dry, or demi-sec, spumante is a dry sparkling wine that leans sweeter, with thirty-three to fifty grams of sugar per liter.
6. 6. Doux: The sweetest level of spumante, doux spumante wines contain more than fifty grams of sugar per liter. These sparkling wines are less popular for straight sipping than other kinds of spumante, but they are popular in desserts and cocktails.

Spumante and other sparkling wines pair well with foods depending on the various dishes and their particular sweetness since spumantes range from dry to sweet. Here are three ways to enjoy spumante:

• As an aperitif: An alcoholic drink before a meal, an aperitif, or “aperitivo” in Italian, prepares the palate and body for food. The term derives from a Latin word that means “to open.” Dry sparkling wine and little bites of food are standard aperitivo offerings. In Italy, the aperitivo course is an experience that traditionally lasts a couple of hours.
• At brunch: Use spumante, prosecco, or cava in a mimosa. A classic brunch drink, a mimosa is traditionally a combination of Champagne and orange juice. A mimosa is similar to a bellini, another bubbly drink, which combines fruit purée and sparkling wine.
• With dessert: Sparkling wine is in many desserts, especially gelatin desserts. Add sparkling wine to cake batters, frostings, and sweet gelatin desserts for a slight fizz. The sparkling wine also adds a fruity, crisp acidity.

Sparkling wines are popular worldwide. Here are six different sparkling wines:

1. 1. Asti Spumante: People sometimes confuse Asti Spumante, a specific sparkling wine, with spumante, which is a category of sparkling wine. The sweet flavor in Asti Spumante comes from the Moscato bianco grape variety, which grows in the Piedmont region of Italy. Asti Spumante received its Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG)—or Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC)—wine status in 1933, which guarantees the product’s quality and origins for consumers.
2. 2. Cava: A result of traditional fermentation methods, cava is a well-known sparkling wine from Spain. The word “cava” refers to the cellars where the wines age. The wine must come from the Cava Denominación de Origen (DO) area and undergo carbonation with a secondary fermentation in the bottle, among other appellation rules.
3. 3. Champagne: For a sparkling wine to be Champagne, it must come from the Champagne region of France, as it is a DOCG product. However, a Treaty of Versaille loophole allows certain California winemakers to make California Champagne and label it as Champagne.
4. 4. Moscato d’Asti: Using the Moscato bianco grape, Moscato d'Asti has DOCG status. The grapes come from the Piedmont region of Italy, and production occurs mainly in Asti, Northern Italy. It’s a sweeter sparkling wine with lower alcohol content. The name “Moscato” comes from the musky aroma of the grapes as they grow
5. 5. Prosecco: All prosecco is spumante, but not all spumante is prosecco. Prosecco is a white DOCG wine from the Veneto region of northern Italy. It consists of mainly glera grapes, and up to fifteen percent can be other varieties. Most prosecco is sparkling (spumante) or semi-sparkling (frizzante), though there are rare still (uncarbonated) examples, too.
6. 6. Spumante: A category of Italian sparkling wine, spumante is a general name for sparkling wine. Spumante might use any grape from any region of Italy and contain various levels of sugar, ranging from very sweet (doux) to very dry (extra brut).

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