As part of the 2017 Annual Meetings of the American Association of Wine Economists (AAWE)I toured for a day the Prosecco Region, with Annette Schiller. More specifically, we spent a day in the Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG Prosecco Superiore Appellation.
The AAWE is a non-profit, educational organization dedicated to encouraging and communicating economic research and analyses and exchanging ideas in wine economics. The Association’s principal activities include publishing a refereed journal — The Journal of Wine Economics — and staging scholarly conferences that are forums for current wine related economic research. Members of AAWE are economists from around the world — in academia, business, government, and research.
I have published 4 book reviews in the Journal of Wine Economics in the past few years:
Book Review by Christian Schiller in Journal of Wine Economics (Vol 11, No 3): MARK E. RICARDO: Simply Burgundy: A Practical Guide to Understanding the Wines of Burgundy. Mark E. Ricardo Book, 2014, 56 pp., ISBN 978-0990513704 Q4 (paperback), $12.99
Book Review by Christian Schiller in Journal of Wine Economics (Vol 11, No 2): JOHN WINTHROP HAEGER: Riesling Rediscovered: Bold, Bright and Dry. University of California Press, Oakland, 2016, 369 pp., ISBN 978-0-520-27545-4, $39.95
Book Review of "Wine Atlas of Germany" in Vol 10, No 1, 2015 of Journal of Wine Economics (Cambridge University Press)
Christian G.E. Schiller's Review of the Book: Ralf Frenzel (ed.) - Riesling, Robert Weil. Tre Torri, Wiesbaden, Germany, 2013, in: Journal of Wine Economics, Volume 9, 2014, No. 1, Cambridge University Press
This year's Annual Meetings took place in Padua, half an hour by train from Venice, in the Veneto Wine Region. The program focussed on the presentation of research papers by participants and also included a tour of the Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG Prosecco Superiore Region and a visit of winery in the Venice Lagune.
I am preparing 4 postings:
Venice, Padua and the Wines of Veneto: Annual Conference of the American Association of Wine Economists (AAWE) in Italy, 2017
Visiting the Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG Prosecco Superiore Region, Italy
Winemaking in Venice: Michel Thoulaze and Orto di Venezia
Schiller's Favorite Wine Bars in Venice
Prosecco
This sparkling wine with its roots in a region north of Venice has become very popular in the past decades. But what Prosecco is has changed quite a bit in the past and may change further in the future. Recently, Pierazzo da Feltre reported on Jancis Robinson's web site on the polarisation that is taking place in Proseccoland (see below). Looking back, 2009 was a decisive year for Prosecco.
Before 2009, Prosecco was not only the name of a region in Northern Italy, like Napa Valley, but also the name of a grape, like Merlot. As a consequence anyone could use the name of the Prosecco grape, as long as the Prosecco grape was in the bottle. Thus, other regions tried to participate in the Prosecco boom and started to produce a Prosecco with the Prosecco grape outside of its traditional home. The boom went so far that Prosecco was sold in cans at rock-bottom prices. All this changed in 2009.
As of the 2009 vintage, the Prosecco grape has been renamed. Its new name is Glera. From 2009 on, a wine producer in Sicily, for example, could no longer sell the Prosecco/Glera grape under the Prosecco name. Secondly, the heartland of the Prosecco in Northern Italy was upgraded to DOCG status and the larger Prosecco region to DOC status. Thus, Prosecco became a regional application, just as Champagne in neighboring France. Only wine produced in the official Prosecco production zone can be labeled as Prosecco. The sale of Prosecco in cans was banned.
Today, Prosecco DOC and DOCG can be spumante ("sparkling wine"), frizzante ("semi-sparkling wine"), or tranquillo ("still wine"). It is made from Glera grapes, formerly known also as Prosecco, but other grape varieties may be included. The name is derived from that of the Italian village of Prosecco near Trieste, where the grape and wine originated from.
Prosecco DOC is produced in nine provinces spanning the Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia regions. Prosecco Superiore DOCG comes in two varieties: Prosecco Conegliano Valdobbiadene Superiore DOCG, which can only be made in the Treviso province of Veneto on the hills between the towns of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene (north of Treviso), and the smaller Asolo Prosecco Superiore DOCG, produced near the town of Asolo.
Finally, the Bellini, the long drink cocktail that originated in Harry’s Bar in Venice, is a mixture of Prosecco and peach puree.
Polarisation (Pierazzo da Feltre)
Recently, Pierazzo da Feltre reported on Jancis Robinson's web site on the polarisation that is taking place in Proseccoland. I am reprinting parts of his posting here.
... I live in the Asolo DOCG Prosecco Superiore zone. Our territory is, along with the most famous Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG Prosecco Superiore appellation, the premier cru territory inside the greater DOC Prosecco, which covers all of Friuli and almost all of the Veneto, say the whole north east of Italy, producing massive quantities of solid, cheap 'entry-level' Prosecco, which is going to invade the world. (Not buying? Close to 50 million bottles produced in 2006, close to 500 million bottles produced in 2016.) These two DOCG zones are very different from the DOC zone, in just about every repect. Here we are in the hill zone of northern Veneto, close to the Alps. Here the vines are exposed to extreme climate variations, the slopes bringing swings in temperature and humidity every day, with the ground always well drained. Exposure and soil composition vary from parcel to parcel but are always excellent for our grapes. (Above right are the slopes around the village of Rolle.) For these reasons, even a non-skilled taster will always easily be able to distinguish, in a blind tasting, one brother from the other.
So today Prosecco has two faces: inside the DOCG territory wines are more and more complex, refined, important, emotional and, inevitably, costly. In the DOC part, simplicity is the goal, yields are higher, and costs are low thanks to mechanisation (flat terrain, no steep hills). I am not saying that one is good and one is bad, they are both very good, for a very different use and expectation.
Things change. Twenty years ago Prosecco was an extremely undemanding wine: all the winemaker used the Charmat method, producing the very same wine with the very same technique. You could not distinguish one glass from 20 others made by different winemakers. Prosecco was Prosecco, full stop. The good side of this was that standardisation made the product recognisable, giving it a precise flavour, thus identity. Winemakers became quite rich because the product was good, cheap, recognisable and fulfilled a need. One might say 'perfect'… However, taste, expectations and demand are constantly drifting: wine is nowadays less a commodity and more an emotion, and Prosecco, at least a part of it, has the potential to become quite fine indeed, rather like the process that is taking place in Champagne, in which a growing number of producers are shifting from 'Champagne wines' to 'Wines of Champagne' (the former can be found at the supermarket for less than €15). We have entered the 'polarisation' era, whether you like it or not.
Nowadays the sons (and daughters, more and more) of these 'new-rich former peasants' are clever, interested, passionate, energetic and, last but not least, eco-friendly. They all got a degree at some wine university, they traveled and saw different things. Consequently they know what they are searching for and, controlling wine techniques very well, they know how to get it. What's more, they are not tied to centenarian traditions like their French cousins, so they began to study the old techniques as a starting point for finding some new ones. In the end, it is simply the 'millennial generation' who are creating their own 'generation of wines' for themselves to enjoy. It makes sense. This story is about the astonishing results of this search.
... The Prosecco in Casanova's times started with the 'ancestral' method, the same method used for the most traditional Blanquette de Limoux or Gaillac Mousseux: in autumn the cold halted fermentation; in spring the wine, not yet completely fermented, was bottled; the heat re-started the fermentative process inside the bottle, meaning pressure and bubbles. That's all, including the strange habit of leaving the second fermentation lees inside the bottle. If you begin to drink them you may become addicted, like me. This method was used in our zone for more than 150 years, then in 1895 Mr Martinotti invented the re-fermentation method that involved adding to the base wine sugars and yeasts, using large closed vats – as if they were the largest bottle ever invented. Mr Charmat refined and patented the invention, so in the wine books he is the guy. The system was (and is) good for aromatic and semi-aromatic grape varieties, because it boosted aromas, delicacy and freshness more than structure. Glera and Moscato were the perfect candidates in whites, Lambrusco and Brachetto in reds. Thanks to Mr Martinotti and Mr Charmat, Proseccoland enjoyed another 100 years of plenty. But nothing is forever, and people's attitude to wine (and food) roll in and out like the tide. Nowadays people no longer swallow one litre per meal (unless they are me). They drink for pleasure, not for thirst, so they begin to ask for more complexity, refinement and quality. Realising that the time was ripe, some years ago a powerful renewal movement kick-started, with the aim of giving Prosecco identity, character, structure and, above all, the necessary longevity to allow it to evolve. The results are, as I said, astounding.
Firstly they began to conduct the second fermentation in the bottle, as they do in champagne. But Glera is neither Pinot nor Chardonnay, and although the result was very interesting at times, the average consumer, who inevitably compared it with its 'big brother' (champagne) and found it not as good, did not want to buy it. Another way had to be found. In fact these producers found many ways and here are some examples (there are many others), with names in alphabetical order, to help you to navigate this exciting new wave. Try their top wines and behold, a new world will open up before you.
Andreola: expanding, as many others, the 'cru' concept, parcels vinified separately.
Bele-Casel: organic artisans. Boschera, a local grape, reappears to fight today's lack of acidity. In a few years I foresee it crucially coming back. Sulphites, what sulphites?
Bellenda: they produce ancestral, sur lie, traditional method, short traditional (Cava) method, extended Charmat. The first to dare to use wooden fermenters.
Bisol: traditional method at best, and one of the best 'Cartizze' as well (Cartizze being the only Prosecco grand cru zone, 107 hectares). The company is partially owned by Ferrari of Trento.
Bortolomiol: organic, working towards zero carbon footprint.
Cirotto: a wonderful, but not for beginners, zero dosage traditional method.
Col Vetoraz: the DOCG Superiore benchmark. Don't go there on a sunny day. You may fall in love with the unique Cartizze grand cru landscape. And it will be forever.
Dal Bello: their 'Celeber' is an emotional zero dosage Charmat.
Silvano Follador: the pioneer. After years of research, he produces a partially fermented grape must starting from botrytised grapes. Ten years of wood ageing.
Fratelli Bortolin: they make a single fermentation from the must to the bubbles, something like Asti method, sulphite-free.
Loredan Gasparini: single fermentation lasting nine months with indigenous yeasts, character, finesse.
Marchiori. The forerunner. All the five aforementioned historical varieties vinified separately, then balanced in different cuvées before the second fermentation. But also macerations, partial fermentations on grapes already fermented as per reds (part way to ripasso), indigenous yeasts. Above all: the study of vintages and ways of improving structure.
Miotto: the 'sur lie' (somewhat ancestral method but with yeasts and sugar added before bottling, lees left inside) and 'frizzante' (pétillant) specialist.
Merotto: he cuts off half of the yield 20 days before harvest, leaving the cut grapes on the vine, then harvesting all the grapes together, giving concentration, structure.
Pat del Colmel: back from the past, using Rabiosa, Perera and Bianchetta, but also Recantina, a forgotten local red grape. Soon enough Prosecco rosé? Maybe.
Ruggeri, alias Rotkäppchen-Mumm: their 'Giustino B' is an extra-dry world-class Charmat.
Visit of the Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG Prosecco Superiore Region
We spent a day in the Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG Prosecco Superiore Region. In the morning, we visited the School of Viticulture and Oenology in Conegliano and had lunch there. On July 9th 1876, just ten years after the annexation of the Veneto region to the Kingdom of Italy, King Vittorio Emanuele II signed the decree authorising the opening of the first School of Viticulture and Oenology in Italy, in Conegliano.
In the afternoon, we split up into smaller groups and each group visited 2 Prosecco producers.
Astoria Wine
Brothers Paolo and Giorgio Polegato, members of the same winemaking family behind Antonini Ceresa Vini, set up Astoria Vini in 1987. Astoria wines are mainly produced from grapes grown on its own 40 acre Tenuta Val De Brun estate in Refrontolo, right in the heart of the DOCG Conegliano-Valdobbiadene zone.
Ca' Salina
The Bortolin family have been producing Prosecco for generations. The Ca'Salina winery was founded in 1950 by Greoriao Bortolin and his wife Neva following a split-up of the family property among several heirs. Today, their sons Massimo and Michele are in charge of the operation.
Other Prosecco Producers Visited
The other groups visited the following producers.
LE COLTURE Winery
Via Follo, 5, Santo Stefano
Tel.: +390423900192
E-Mail: info@lecolture.it
Web: www.lecolture.it
IL COLLE Winery
Web: www.proseccoilcolle.it
VILLA SANDI Winery
Web: www.villasandi.it
BORGOLUCE winery
Web: www.borgoluce.it/en
Bortolomiol Winery
Via Garibaldi Giuseppe, 142, Valdobbiadene
Tel.: +3904239749/+390423975066
E-Mail: info@bortolomiol.com
Web: www.bortolomiol.com
LA TORDERA winery
Web: www.latordera.it
VAL D’OCA winery
Web: www.valdoca.com
schiller-wine: Related Postings
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Bordeaux Tour by ombiasy WineTours 2016, France
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Book Review by Christian Schiller in Journal of Wine Economics (Vol 11, No 3): MARK E. RICARDO: Simply Burgundy: A Practical Guide to Understanding the Wines of Burgundy. Mark E. Ricardo Book, 2014, 56 pp., ISBN 978-0990513704 Q4 (paperback), $12.99
Book Review by Christian Schiller in Journal of Wine Economics (Vol 11, No 2): JOHN WINTHROP HAEGER: Riesling Rediscovered: Bold, Bright and Dry. University of California Press, Oakland, 2016, 369 pp., ISBN 978-0-520-27545-4, $39.95
Book Review of "Wine Atlas of Germany" in Vol 10, No 1, 2015 of Journal of Wine Economics (Cambridge University Press)
Christian G.E. Schiller's Review of the Book: Ralf Frenzel (ed.) - Riesling, Robert Weil. Tre Torri, Wiesbaden, Germany, 2013, in: Journal of Wine Economics, Volume 9, 2014, No. 1, Cambridge University Press
Venice, Padua and the Wines of Veneto: Annual Conference of the American Association of Wine Economists (AAWE) in Italy, 2017