Meaningful Prosecco ?
A new generation from Northern Italy returns the popular fizz to its roots
There is Prosecco and there is Prosecco.
Most Prosecco – the most produced sparkling wine in the world from a vast swath of northern Italy – is anonymous stuff serving as a cheaper-than-Champagne substitute.
But there is some delicious mostly small-production Prosecco with lots of character coming from the Prosecco hills around Valdobbiadene.
Matteo Bisol (right) with fellow Col Fondo peers Christian Zago (center) and Martino Tormena (left)
A new generation from those prime terroirs is working to bring back an artisanal style of col fondo Prosecco – refermented in bottle (with a rustic layer of yeast at the bottom) – that were before the 21st century the local standard.
One of the champions of the deeper colored and flavored style is Matteo Bisol, scion of a Prosecco-pioneering family.
In my latest Robert Camuto Meets… column at winespectator.com, Bisol and a pair of his contemporaries explain how their goal to make Prosecco for winelovers, or “Prosecco for the five percent.”
While col fondo style is hip, it represents less than 1 percent of the global Prosecco market. And, because of Prosecco appellation rules over things like the use of crown caps, most of it can’t even be labelled Prosecco. So, it’s being poured in wine bars in Milan, Paris and New York under other names.
See and share the latest Robert Camuto Meets…(free) at winespectator.com