Prosecco

Prosecco is a very popular wine it seems. A light, low alcohol white with a bit of fizz, it’s easy drinking. 

The co-driver’s friends drink a lot of it and we decided to take the plunge and bought a bottle of Brown Brothers who produce it from grapes grown in the cool climate of the King Valley in Victoria.

Prosecco is a white grape variety of Slovenian origin which was brought to the village of Prosecco (Slovene: Prosek) from Slovenia's Karst region.

It is believed to be a very old variety and it has been suggested that it was cultivated already back in Roman times.

Prosecco was traditionally used as the name for both the grape variety and the sparkling wine produced primarily from it.

When the Italian wine industry’s DOCG status was sought for Prosecco di Conegliano e Valdobbiadene, it became complicated as the the grape (which had become cultivated over a larger area) and the protected designation of origin had the same name.

To resolve the issue, the old synonym Glera was officially adopted as the name of the grape within the EU.

This change was also made to reduce the possibility of sparkling wines of other origin being labelled "Prosecco" by using the grape variety's name.

The name change was rejected by Australian wine producers who continue to refer to the grape variety and the wine made from it as 'Prosecco'.

This has become a bone of contention when trade deals between the EU and Australia are discussed.

In the past, Australia has changed the generic name of many locally produced wines to comply with EU rulings eg. Champagne, Hermitage, Port, Burgundy, Chablis, Sauterne, Moselle etc are no longer used in this country.

But it seems we are ‘holding out’ when it comes to Prosecco!

Unlike Champagne, Prosecco is usually produced using the alternative Charmat method, in which secondary fermentation takes place in large stainless steel tanks rather than in each individual bottle. This  makes the wine less expensive to produce and reduces the minimum production time to 30 days.

The wine we drank was pleasant enough as a quaffer, but is certainly no Champagne / méthode champenoise sparkling white wine.