Charmat Method

Ready for a bit of terminology? In the world of sparkling wine traditional method and tank method fermentation are the most common ways to intensify and stimulate bubble action in wine through secondary fermentation. It's not quite so simple, but it is generally fair to associate traditional method with Champagne and tank method with Prosecco. Tank …

Conegliano – Valdobbiadene and The DOC(G), Part I

I've dropped the acronyms DOC and DOCG a few times here. As many of you will know, DOC is a quality assurance label in Italy. It stands for Denominazione di Origine Controllata, literally: Controlled Designation of Origin. It's a key label to know about when buying Italian wines. In the few Italian towns where German …

Spago

One of my favorite Proseccos is the humble Spago. The word spago means 'string' and refers to a small string along the neck to hold in the cork. For me Spago represents a rustic informality that matches the playfulness of a wine that's for everyday enjoyment. The string is hand-tied, by the fast fast hands of the Veneto's …

Va Tranquillo…It’s Still Prosecco!

Sometimes Prosecco doesn't have bubbles. It's still Prosecco, it's just still Prosecco. It's typically called tranquillo and you'd be right to ask, 'what's the point of prosecco without fizz?' Zero-bar tranquillo, first and foremost, is cool because it's a way to focus on the character of the Glera grape as it was enjoyed for centuries …

Vines of a Lost Emprie

    I'm not immune to the charms of Wes Anderson's Grand Budapest Hotel or for that matter Stefan Zweig's The World of Yesterday, but I'm also not an Austro-nostalgic fighting for the return of the Südtirol to Vienna. Turbulent histories have marked Italy's eastern vineyards, inviting comparisons to France's Champagne region, since somehow the celebratory bubbles …