What Is Prosecco? Learn About the Italian Sparkling Wine and How to Serve and Pair Prosecco

Prosecco is a white Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) or Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) wine made in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is made from glera grapes, with 15% other varieties allowed. Most prosecco is sparkling (spumante) or semi-sparkling (frizzante), though rare still (uncarbonated) examples are made. The Prosecco DOC area is Italy’s largest appellation.

Prosecco and Champagne are both bubbly with refreshing high acidity. Like Champagne, which can only come from the Champagne region of France, the name prosecco is protected by European law for wines made in the authorized production zone of the Prosecco DOC. Learn about the key differences between these two sparklers.

• Production method: Most prosecco is carbonated using the Charmat method, where the second fermentation occurs in a closed tank before the wine is bottled. Champagne is made using the méthode Champenoise, or traditional method. This technique uses a second fermentation in individual bottles as well as lees aging (aging on spent yeast) to give the wine strong bubbles and bready aromas.
• Grapes used: Prosecco is made from at least 85% glera, which is a fruity, aromatic white grape. Other grapes are allowed in smaller quantities, including chardonnay and pinot noir, two of the main grapes of Champagne. Champagne is based on these two grapes, plus the red grape pinot meunier, and does not include glera.
• Sweetness: Most prosecco is extra dry or brut, styles which have discernible sweetness. Champagne tends to be drier, with extra brut being a more common level of dosage. Those looking for bone dry wine should try brut nature (zero dosage) Champagne.

Prosecco gets its name from the village of Prosecco in Friuli in northeastern Italy. Wine from the area has been called “prosecco”or some variation for at least 400 years. Early proseccos were ancestral method sparkling wines that were sweet and low in alcohol, similar to Asti, another popular sparkling Italian wine.

The Charmat method, invented around the turn of the twentieth century, allowed prosecco producers to make more consistent sparkling wine on a larger scale than before. As the technology was adopted, prosecco production went up and quality improved dramatically.

Glera, the main grape used to make prosecco, was called “prosecco” until 2009, when it was renamed as part of the creation of the Prosecco DOC. The DOC area was significantly larger than the classic production zone for the wines, and critics were worried that quality would suffer. For this reason, some areas in the classic production zone were elevated to DOCG status. International prosecco consumption has grown rapidly since the introduction of the Prosecco DOC, making it one of the wine world’s biggest success stories.

The Prosecco DOC covers 35,000 acres in the northern Italian regions of Veneto and Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, which borders Slovenia. This DOC zone includes major Italian cities, like Venice, Padova, Verona, Treviso, and Trieste along with the surrounding plains and countryside.

• About half of the Prosecco DOC lies in the classic production zone, which is based around the neighboring hillside towns of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene near Treviso. Wines made here can be part of the Prosecco Conegliano-Valdobbiadene Superiore DOCG.
• Prosecco Asolo Superiore DOCG is a smaller appellation near the town of Asolo. For this and the Conegliano-Valdobbiadene Superiore DOCG, the grapes must be grown on hillsides, which increases ripeness. Harvesting machinery cannot operate on the hilly terrain, so grapes for these wines are hand-picked, increasing the quality of the final wine.
• The best prosecco comes from the subzone of Cartizze, a hill in Valdobbiadene. A bottle of prosecco from Cartizze will be labeled Superiore di Cartizze rather than the name of the DOCG, and they are considerably more expensive than other proseccos.

Prosecco is made from a blend of grapes that must be at least 85% glera, with the rest being local and international varieties including verdiso, bianchetta trevigiana, perera, chardonnay, pinot bianco, pinot grigio and pinot noir.

The majority of prosecco is produced using the Charmat method. Also called the tank method, this winemaking process involves a second fermentation in large closed tanks that trap carbon dioxide, a byproduct of the fermentation process, in the wine. The wine is then filtered and bottled under pressure with the desired level of dosage for sweetness. The fermentation is usually quick, lasting about one month, but the lungo (long) variation can last 9 months, leading to more complexity in the wine.

A new trend, especially among low-intervention or “natural” producers, is a return to the much older ancestral method. This style, called col fondo (“with sediment”), is made by bottling still-fermenting wine, which becomes fizzy in the bottle. The sediment adds texture and yeasty flavor to the wine. Col fondo wines do not receive additional dosage, so they are dry. Some Prosecco DOCG wines may, alternatively, be carbonated using the traditional method, where the second fermentation occurs in the bottle, similar to Champagne.

• Aromatic: Prosecco has sweet fruit aromas of peach, pear, melon, green apple, and honeysuckle. The wine’s secondary fermentation in steel tanks preserves these bright, fresh aromas.
• Sweet: Extra-dry prosecco, which has 12–17 grams per liter of residual sugar, has traditionally been the most common style. Brut styles, with up to 12 grams of sugar, are quickly gaining in popularity. “Dry” prosecco and demi-sec styles are sweeter, with up to 32 grams or 50 grams of sugar respectively. Even the driest prosecco (like col fondo styles with no added sugar) will taste somewhat sweet due to the ripe flavor of the glera grapes.
• Softly sparkling: Prosecco has two levels of fizz: spumante (sparkling) and frizzante (semi-sparkling). Both of these are less carbonated than Champagne, whose higher pressure comes from the traditional method carbonation process. The softer mousse of frizzante prosecco makes it easy to pair with food.

Prosecco should be served ice cold. It can be served on its own as an apéritif or digestif, but is also a popular component of cocktails including the spritz, the mimosa (made with prosecco and orange juice), and the bellini (made with prosecco and white peach purée).

Prosecco is at its best when consumed immediately and not aged.

Prosecco is easy to pair with food as long as you keep its sweetness in mind. Relatively dry brut proseccos go well with salty food such as:

• Parmesan cheese
• Prosciutto-wrapped melon
• Fritto misto di mare
• Frittata or quiche

The additional sugar in extra dry Proseccos make them an ideal pairing for Thai cuisine, where chili heat is matched with a sweet element, like in pad thai, green papaya salad, or red curry.

The sweetest proseccos are delicious with dessert, especially baked fruit pastries, cookies, cakes with fresh fruit, and fried desserts with pastry cream or ice cream filling.

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