Prosecco or Valdobbiadene?

That is the question many are asking in the prosecco growing region of Italy. Local growers and prosecco enthusiasts think the name prosecco is losing its significance. This refreshing Italian sparkling white wine has become so popular that it is being grown beyond its traditional origins and some are forced to use prosecco grapes from outlying regions to catch up with demand. Recently, to the horror of local growers a canned form of prosecco has hit the market, and to further bring the point home Paris Hilton is the face of the ad campaign.
Local growers from the Santo Stefano region, known for the production of an especially good form of prosecco known as Cartizze, want to preserve the significance of their long wine making tradition by changing the name of their D.O.C. wine from Prosecco to Valdobbiadene.
Prosecco is a sparkling wine the color of topaz, with a refined pear bouquet. The production zone extends through the northern hills of the Treviso Province, between the towns of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene. The hills run in the Pre-Alps just 50 kilometers north of Venice, with the Dolomites to the north and the Adriatic Sea to the south. According to the Consortium for the tutelage of the prosecco production Conegliano-Valdobbiadene the production zone comprises 15 communities, 45,000 acres and 5000 producers. There are 9,750 acres of DOC registered vineyards and 257 acres belonging to the denomination “Superiore di Cartizze”. The whole Conegliano-Valdobbiadene region, produces around 28 million bottles of prosecco a year.
A particularly prestigious Prosecco is grown in the zone of “Cartizze”, on the steepest hills of San Pietro di Barbozza, Santo Stefano and Saccol in Valdobbiadene. The steep slopes make it difficult to mechanize the work and managing the vineyards is performed by small growers. This zone is a true “cru” (vineyard of a single vine variety). The variety is highly priced and an acre of land here estimated to be worth a million dollars. The soft hills are therefore intensely cultivated and some look like giant green porcupines given the density of stakes to grow the vines. The Prosecco from this area is sold for nearly twice as much as the others. Even though the Conegliano-Valdobbiadene area has been growing prosecco grapes and producing the wine since Roman times, the current Prosecco strains have been cultivated for only two hundred years, with an effort by the School of Viticulture and Enology of Conegliano to purify and strengthen the product in order to make it more recognizable and a D.O.C. wine (Denomination of Controlled Origen).
There are three main types of prosecco: Tranquilo (without bubbles), spumante and frizzante with more and less bubbles respectively. They are classified as Brut, Dry, Extra dry, Millesimato and Cartizze. Brut has the lesser quantity of sugar and Cartizze the highest.
Some Proseccos are classified as Millesimato if fabricated with the best grapes of the year. Prosecco does not have a vintage because it is all bottled about 6 months after the grape are harvested and is to be consumed shortly thereafter. It is not meant to be aged. Millesimato is produced in limited quantity and not necessarily every year and is therefore more expensive. Other wines in this area are “Refrontolo Passito”, a sweet red wine. “Torchiato di Fregona” a sweet dessert white wine and “Verdiso” a white wine with strong apple flavor.
I love prosecco because it is light, refreshing and it is milder than Champagne: It does not give you a headache or make you drunk in two sips, yet it has all the sparkle and thirst-quenching deliciousness for a fraction of the price. Try it. I wish the producers can protect the name Prosecco, for I think it is just right for the drink, but I will understand and follow Valdobbiadene if the name change is required to safeguard my favorite elixir.