Help me name a Sparkling Wine

I was in a rush yesterday...

This is what the Prosecco DOC* site says

Grape varieties: Glera is the basic variety used to produce Prosecco. The following varieties may also be used up to a maximum of 15% of the total: Verdiso, Bianchetta Trevigiana, Perera, Glera lunga, Chardonnay, Pinot Bianco, Pinot Grigio and Pinot Nero, in the white winemaking process.

Although the black Pinot Nero is allowed, I read the last 5 words as meaning only white Prosecco can be produced.

I can not see any mention of pink on the Conegliano Valdobbiadene site either http://www.prosecco.it

*http://www.discoverproseccowine.it/en/the_prosecco/regulations/

*

The term “Prosecco” for most of us anyway will still represent “a style of wine” produced in the Northeast region of Italy. As mentioned by Robin in 2009 the DOCG Superior rules have been revised to change the meaning of the term “Prosecco” (at least when it is printed on a wine label). The term no longer classifies the “wine style” but a region defined and known as Conegliano-Valdobbiadene. (So does this mean, a dry still version of the sparkler if it is produced in the Conegliano-Valdobbiadene region could also be labeled “Prosecco”?)

Salute

No, as I understand it

Prosecco is a sparkling wine. The grape its made from is Glera. The Conegliano-Valdobbiadene is a sub region within the larger Prosecco DOC, ie. you can have a DOC Prosecco that's not from Conegliano-Valdobbiadene.

The Italians played a blinder by grabbing the name of a grape -- prosecco - and making it their own. I've had proseccos in Australia, made from the prosecco grape and in the same way as the Italian proseccos. Anyone can grow the grape and make a sparkling wine from it , but this nifty move by the Italians now prevent such wines being called Prosecco in the EU and with countries with trading agreements with EU.

Have to hand it to the Italians.

The Italian tendency is to allow successful appellations to be debased by being broadened, usually by giving the original genuine appellation the suffix 'Classico' and then giving the original name to a wider area. The recent change in the definition of Prosecco is breathtakingly bold, in that they declared that, henceforth, the varietal name Prosecco will be attached to a much-debased wine style, and the original zone (Valdobbiadene and Conegliano) will be given DOCG, as a consolation prize. To paper over this change, the new name for the grape Prosecco is now Glera.

This change was brought about by Italian and international demand for Prosecco bottled by the industrial producers. My assumption is that the addition of a rosé style was similarly brought about, but perhaps I'm being too cynical. Given that Prosecco is a white variety, the addition of a wine with called Prosecco Rose makes about as much sense as a wine called Chardonnay Rosé in California; it would be legal, in that in CA only 75% of the blend need be the named variety, but it wouldn't make much sense, unless the intended market didn't really know what Chardonnay meant.

I'm not sure I agree with you.

There's pink Champagne so I can't see why there shouldn't be a pink Prosecco, since up to 15% of certain other grapes, includingl seemingly* Pinot Noir, is allowed.

However my understanding is that currently Prosecco can only be white.

I recalled a shipment of Marks & Spencer's Rosecco (great name) pink Italian fizz being seized by Italian authorities and I've found a report about it in Decanter part of which says

The pink version, formerly called Prosecco Raboso, Prosecco Rosé or similar, must now go by another name.

According to the Consorzio Conegliano Valdobbiadene, it also is forbidden under Italian law to imitate any Italian product - including its name – in case it misleads the consumer.

Producers cannot call their wines Prosecco Rosé or indeed by any name that resembles Prosecco.

Source http://www.decanter.com/news/wine-news/ ... v8Ya6zQ.99

*seemingly because the list off allowed varieties differs between teh Prosecco and the Conegliano sites

I'm not sure I agree with you.

There's pink Champagne so I can't see why there shouldn't be a pink Prosecco, since up to 15% of certain other grapes, includingl seemingly* Pinot Noir, is allowed.

However my understanding is that currently Prosecco can only be white.

Peter,

Champagne is a region, not a grape variety. Pinot noir is included in the list of permitted 'other varieties' for both DOC and DOCG Prosecco, but given that the color is defined as 'straw yellow' it's clear that they mean Pinot must be vinified 'in bianco,' without the skins.

I must admit that I missed the other significance of this recent change, as was pointed out above: by redefining the Prosecco appellation they both enlarged the area of production and blocked other areas from producing a wine called 'Prosecco,' even though it's a variety. Bureaucratic genius.

Agree about white Prosecco, that is what I said on my previous post.

As for Champagne being a region, well so is Prosecco now. It's no longer a grape variety, otherwise other regions and countries could make and sell Prosecco.

Still no reason why the rules won't change to allow pink Prosecco, expect it when they realise that pink Champagne sells at a premium

Thank you Oliver!
I still believe most consumers will recognize Prosecco as a wine style and not a region.

Salute

True

Many consumers think of champagne as a style not a region.

CT lists some prosecco from Germany, Austria, Croatia, Australia, Brazil and USA

The first 3 are in EU so won't be using that name any more, Australia will, I expect bend to the EU's will (a sthey have with Port, Sherry and Tokay), Brazil? and the USA TTB lists Prosecco in the list of Names of wines with protected designations of origin, and neither Prosecco nor Glera are listed as Approved grape names so maybe those wineries making 'prosecco' from whatever will claim 'grandfathered' rights.

Agree about white Prosecco, that is what I said on my previous post.

As for Champagne being a region, well so is Prosecco now. It's no longer a grape variety, otherwise other regions and countries could make and sell Prosecco.

Still no reason why the rules won't change to allow pink Prosecco, expect it when they realise that pink Champagne sells at a premium

Peter,

Even the Czar of all Russias couldn't obliterate a wine grape variety, let alone the DOC bureaucrats; Prosecco is, as Ian d'Agata states in his great book about Italian grape varieties, the former name of the grape now called Glera. It is also the name of a wine grown in a large swath of NE Italy (as DOC), or a much more focussed area (as DOCG). The whole escapade is like something out of Orwell.

The sad part of all this is that it has to do with oceans of very mediocre wine sold under the Prosecco name. The real thing can be absolutely wonderful; as d'Agata says, 'great Prosecco reminds you of buttercups, green apples, and white peaches', to which I would add a distinct pear aroma and flavor.

Oliver wrote;
The Italian tendency is to allow successful appellations to be debased by being broadened, usually by giving the original genuine appellation the suffix 'Classico' and then giving the original name to a wider area.

There is actually a pretty good reason to “expand “ the size of the DOC. This actually “lessens” the production of IGT wines. (Wines once labelled “Prosecco IGT” must now adhere to Prosecco DOC rules and regulations).

Some might find the following link interesting
http://www.chamberswines.com/img/produc ... IONARY.pdf

Salute

Victor,

To me the important thing is the quality of the wine, and the clarity with which the appellation system allows people to find that quality. Moving the same type of wine to a different level of quality, as happened here, is in my view merely misleading.

Another recent Italian example is the creation of Gran Selezione in Chianti Classico. How does this help the quality of the wines affected, or a customer's ability to understand that quality?

In any case, our guarantee of quality is really always the producers' pride in the product, not the bureaucracy.

Peter,

Even the Czar of all Russias couldn't obliterate a wine grape variety, let alone the DOC bureaucrats;

The Czar didn't have half the power of the EU.

Its not the only variety name that has been changed by diktat. It's only us oldies who remember Alsace's Tokay d'Alsace and Italy's Tocai Friulano, or South Africa and Australia's Hermitage

prosecco has been obliterated as the name of a wine grape variety if it can't be used on a wine bottle, And it can't any more.