Naked Vine Double Barrel: A Pair of Prosecco

Not long ago, I spent a very enjoyable afternoon with my Wizardly brother-from-another-mother and his lovely wife, the Breaker of Chains. They'd been in the market for some new furniture -- and when it arrived, I popped by their place to help them do a little interior redecorating.

Since it was mid-afternoon and any sort of design work goes better with alcohol, I brought along a couple of bottles of Prosecco to sample side-by-side. After all, a new comfy sofa is a perfect excuse to crack some bubbly, no?

Prosecco, and sparkling wine in general, has been on a bit of a domestic tear over the last several years. Once largely a celebratory bottle, sparkling wine's showing up as an "ordinary day" beverage more often, driven in a great part by Millennials embracing bubbly. (Since sparkling wine goes wonderfully with anything fatty, avocado toast is a great Prosecco pairing.)

Prosecco has led the way in driving this sales increase, eating into the market share of both Cava from Spain and many domestic sparklers. Sales of the stuff were up almost 25% in 2018, and that trend seems to be holding.

What is Prosecco? To nod at the last couple of columns here, Prosecco is an Italian wine region not far from Venice. For many years, however, the grape from which the wine is made was also referred to, somewhat incorrectly, as Prosecco. The proper varietal name, Glera, is now the primary referent.

Like most sparkling wines, Prosecco can be produced in any number of styles -- from dry to sweet -- based on the amount of residual sugar left after fermentation. There's no need to guess about the level of sweetness. You'll see one of these terms, from driest to sweetest, on the label:

Brut, Extra Dry, Dry, Demi-Sec.
Yes, you're reading that correctly -- Extra Dry is slightly sweeter than Brut.

Extra Dry and Brut are the most common styles, and those were the bottles that I brought over for our little design session. We had these to sample:

Tenuta Sant'Anna Prosecco DOC Extra Dry
Bacio Della Luna Prosecco DOC Brut

We tried them side-by-side, first on their own and then as the backbone of mimosas.

The Tenuta was a very easy-drinking bubbly, full of peaches and pears. The Bacio leaned more in a apple and peach direction. On their own, we all preferred the Bacio for its crispness and its more pronounced flavors. "The sparkle makes the flavor really pop," noted the BoC.

As for making mimosas, and I find this to be true with almost all sparkling wine, the extra dry version tends to make for a better balanced cocktail. That little bit of residual sweetness allows the various flavors in a cocktail a little more of a platform to strut their stuff. I thought the Tenuta also would have been a particularly strong choice if you're a summertime chugger of Aperol Spritzes.

You should be able to find either of these wines for just north of $15. Either of them should take care of your bubbly needs nicely.

Bubbles to Beat the Brunch Backlash

I casually peruse food articles, as you might guess. One emerging set of hot takes seems to revolve around brunch. Specifically, that brunch sucks.

It’s all the same – just dressed up eggs and bacon, they say. Starchy home fries lead to long afternoon naps, crushing the productivity we’re supposed to be chasing in this crazy, overly plugged-in world of ours. Anthony Bourdain, in his initial New Yorker article that eventually became Kitchen Confidential, said chefs hate brunch. (May all your steaks be rare on the other side, Tony…rest in calm and light…)

I don’t subscribe to that point of view, myself. I’m still personally a big brunch fan, although I’m not a huge fan of what many brunches have *become* -- waiting for hours in line for quickly prepared slot machine meals from some new, trendy locale. Bottomless mimosas amped with triple sec and double vodka bloody mary bars to accelerate the food coma.

No, what I enjoy about brunch is the pace. Late enough timeframe for sleeping in, slowly letting consciousness return from whatever you might have been up to the night before. And a little hair of the dog – but not too much. I prefer having a brunch that refreshes – so I tend to stay away from, the heavy, greasy food -- and along with that, I stay away from the mixed drinks. They tend to go down too quickly, so I stick to relatively low-alcohol sparkling wine.

Some of the more popular brunch sparklers tend to be Italian. For most people, there will be two basic schools of thought about noontime bubbles, Moscato and Prosecco.

Moscato, born in the Piedmont region, is a sweet, fruity wine made from the Muscat grape. Easy to drink, Moscato is the fastest-growing style of wine in the United States, driven in part by a great deal of love from the hip-hop community. Moscato like this one are slightly fizzy – a style called “frizzante” in Italian.

The Moscato I sampled was the Castello del Poggio Moscato. Starting with a floral nose of honey, pineapple, and blossoms, my note after taking my first sip reads, “This is like eating a peach.” After a mite more reflection for detail, I thought it’s an initially weighty wine. Peaches and honey are the primary flavors, cut through by a slight effervescence. The finish is surprisingly light, ending with a lingering flavor of honeycrisp apple. At 7% ABV, this would make it a natural brunch pairing, especially with something like a salad with some fruits. If you were interested in having it with something later in the day, spicy foods would be tamed by the residual sugar. $13.

As for Prosecco, this is a much more “traditional” sparkling wine, full in its carbonation. For a long time, Prosecco was both the name of the grape and the region from which the wine hailed. In 2009, to avoid confusion, the name of the grape was changed to “Glera.” Prosecco is carbonated in tanks – a technique called the Charmat method – rather than in the bottle like Champagne and many other sparkling wines. Prosecco tends to be fairly dry, and is a solid accompaniment for many types of foods. If you’re thinking a heavier menu for your brunch, Prosecco will be a good choice to cut through the fat and starch.

I gave a go to the Zonin “1821” Prosecco – A straightforward glass of refreshing bubbles. This Prosecco is on the dry-but-fruity side. I found it had a gentle, blossomy nose of apples and pineapples. Green apple and lemon flavors on the palate are balanced with the lasting, tight bubbles and a zippy acidity. The finish is fruity, with more of those pineapples lingering at the end. As I mentioned, the bubbles will let this wine line up against almost anything you’d order, from brunch salads and soups to greasy hangover relief food. It also works well at the end of a meal, if you’re into the dessert thing. $13.

Naked Vine Double Barrel – Veneto cool for Summer’s heat

Ah, Venice. Starting spot for the first European trip the Sweet Partner in Crime and I took together a decade ago. We have many lovely memories of Venice itself, but we didn’t get a chance, that time, to leave the confines of the city to head for the hills of Treviso, where wine grapes grow plentifully.

The eastern portion of the Veneto DOC region, named for its proximity to Venice, is best known for production of white grapes, particularly Glera, which is the primary grape in Prosecco, as well as numerous others. The western, warmer portion of the region, towards the city of Verona produces largely red grapes, including Corvina – the primary grape in both the light-styled red Valpolicella and the tannic, raisinated Amarone.

It’s to the eastern portion that we turn our eyes for the last set of tasties that the Wine Fairy graciously brought to our door to spawn some Italian reminiscences. We had the chance to try a couple of whites from Gran Passione, a producer in the Veneto, both of which retail for around $13.

Gran Passione Prosecco DOC – Prosecco, the ubiquitously tasty Italian sparkler, continues its rise in US popularity, thanks to the help of many friendly neighborhood bartenders working this wine into various craft cocktails that have caught on with Millennials. In Italy, however, these warm-weather creations are served as traditional aperitifs. This particular Prosecco, which is dry and full of peach and green apple fruit, makes a lovely drink on its own. I had this alongside a lovely mushroom quiche the Sweet Partner in Crime whipped up on Memorial Day and it was an excellent pairing. However, I thought it really shone as the base of an Aperol Spritz – over ice, pour two shots of Gran Passione with a shot of Aperol (a reddish bitter liqueur) and a splash of club soda. Stir gently and squeeze in a lime wedge. Enjoy summer.

 

Brunch from the Sweet Partner in Crime -- with Gran Passione Prosecco

Gran Passione 2017 Veneto Bianco – The other sample was a crisp white – a blend of 80% Chardonnay and 20% Garganega – the latter of which is the primary grape in an Italian wine called Soave. This crisp, acidic blend, has a floral aroma backed with a hint of baking spice. The main flavor reminded me of lemon crème. Fuller bodied than many Italian whites, this is a bold enough white to handle multiple food duties – from summer salads with strawberries and goat cheese to roasted chicken to salmon with a lighter sauce. Nicely versatile and quite a decent value.

TNV Guide to Prosecco – Italian Sparkly Goodness

Since we’ve been on a bit of a sparkling wine kick around here, let’s take a look at another star of the world of inexpensive bubbles: Prosecco, the official sparkling wine of brunches from sea to shining sea. When you run across cocktails like mimosas, kir royales, or bellinis, odds are that the sparkler used to fizz the drink up will be Prosecco. So, what is the stuff?

Kir Royale...because Prosecco makes you happy.

First off, as you probably already know, Prosecco is an Italian sparkling wine. As with most Italian wines, “Prosecco” does not refer to the grape that the wine is made from. Prosecco is actually a village in the growing region where the grape is said to have originated. The Prosecco DOC is the term for the actual growing region, which encompasses parts of the Veneto and Friuli-Venezia-Giulia regions.

Prosecco is not the name of a grape, at least not anymore. The primary grape varietal used to make Prosecco is called Glera. The grape itself was known as both Prosecco and Glera until 2009, when Italy officially started using Glera as the sole name of the grape to avoid confusion.  Other grapes can be included in the mix, such as Pinot Grigio, but there must be at least 85% Glera.

Prosecco comes in three varieties: spumante, meaning sparkling -- the most common version; frizzante, meaning semi-sparkling; and tranquillo, meaning a still wine – which you’ll rarely see outside of the Veneto. There are also designations for levels of sweetness, which are a bit counterintuitive. Brut is the most dry and the most common; Extra dry, which is slightly sweeter; and Dry, which is the sweetest. 

Most Prosecco you will commonly encounter will be labeled “Prosecco DOC” – meaning that the grapes are all from the growing region. The higher quality stuff will be labeled “Prosecco Conegliano Valdobbiadene Superiore DOCG” – which I will let you explore at your leisure.

The wine is produced slightly differently from other sparkling wines. Rather than the Methode Champenoise (known as Metodo Classico in Italy) style, where the wine is carbonated in bottle through secondary fermentation, Prosecco is carbonated in stainless steel tanks and bottled under pressure, which is known as the Charmat process or Metodo Italiano. This method allows for a less expensive production.

Prosecco is relatively low in alcohol – usually around 11-12%, which is why it’s so popular for brunches. It’s usually drunk as an aperitif or, as I mentioned before (and will mention again in a bit), used as a cocktail mixer. Like most Italian wines of any stripe, it’s exceptionally food friendly – and can be broken open with almost anything. It really shines with bacon, believe it or not. Prosecco tends to be relatively inexpensive. Most bottles will run between $10-20. Serve it well chilled.

I recently came into a few bottles for sampling from Kelly at Colangelo. All of these are Prosecco DOC versions:

Mionetto Brut Prosecco DOC – This prosecco had a distinct yeasty aroma when first cracked. Along with the yeast, there were flavors of apples and pears on the palate. This was one of the least carbonated Prosecco that I’ve had the chance to try. While listed as “spumante” – it seemed much more in the “frizzante” range. The overall effect was that of drinking a very dry, slightly bubbly hard cider. On its own, it was not my favorite Prosecco. It did make a nice accompaniment to some roasted vegetable “paninis” (we didn’t have the right bread, but we did have some whole wheat naan – worked well enough!) that we put together with assorted items from our CSA share and basil pesto from our patio container garden. Side note: Mionetto is the largest exporter of Prosecco.

Jeio Brut Prosecco DOC – Vvery different character with this bottle. Considerably more carbonated than the Monetto, it also didn’t have those particular yeast characteristics. Instead, this one sported a much more delicate, floral nose to go along with a fresh flavor of green apples and a touch of lemony citrus. The finish is dry and crisp. We had this alongside some leftover Minestrone soup and some flavored pita chips and it paired nicely. I think it would be a fantastic brunch bottle. I declare this one officially tasty.

La Gioiosa Prosecco DOC Treviso – The “DOC Treviso” means that the grapes are sourced from

around the village of Treviso, Of the three, this is the one I liked the feel of the best. I thought it had the right amount of sparkle and a certain richness to the flavor that I enjoyed. There’s a refreshing lemon bite at first sip, which quickly calms down into some nice key lime pie flavors. The bubbles keep the train moving across the palate, and the finish is long and lemony. I had this one as an aperitif over a couple of days. (A sparkling wine stopper makes a great stocking stuffer!) Super pleasant for sipping and conversation. Another point in its favor – the bottle looks pretty darned cool.

As I mentioned, Prosecco works well on its own, but the brut versions work exceptionally well as a mixer. For your next brunch or party, here are some Prosecco cocktails you can try:

• Mimosa – fill a sparkling wine flute halfway with Prosecco. Fill with orange juice.
• Kir Royale – add ½ oz. of crème de cassis (I prefer Chambord) to a wine flute. Fill with Prosecco. For an extra fancy presentation, add a few fresh raspberries and watch ‘em float around.
• Bellini – add a couple of ounces of peach puree or peach nectar to a flute. Top up with Prosecco.
• Sorrento Sparkle – add a shot of chilled limoncello liqueur to a flute. Top up with Prosecco.

Saluti!