What is Real Prosecco?

Prosecco is an Italian wine made mainly from Glera grapes, best known for its sparkling styles and fresh fruit character. Prosecco DOC comes from designated areas of Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia. It includes white and rosé sparkling wines, semi-sparkling white wine and still white wine.

Prosecco has both a place-name connection and a history as grape terminology. In today's Italian appellation system, Glera is the principal grape and Prosecco identifies wines made under defined origin rules. If you expected one word to have one tidy job, wine history has other plans.

Prosecco comes in three forms: spumante (fully sparkling), frizzante (semi-sparkling) and tranquillo (still). White Prosecco DOC can be made in all three; Prosecco DOC Rosé is fully sparkling. Sweetness terms such as Brut and Extra Dry describe a separate choice, with Extra Dry sweeter than Brut.

Prosecco DOC is a controlled designation of origin: Denominazione di Origine Controllata. It identifies wine meeting defined geographical, grape and production requirements in northeastern Italy. To choose a bottle, read the style too. White Brut and Extra Dry rosé can both be DOC while offering different experiences.

DOC stands for Denominazione di Origine Controllata, Italian for "controlled designation of origin." On a bottle of Prosecco it means the grapes were grown in the official Prosecco area of northeast Italy, the wine is at least 85% Glera, it was made under the Prosecco DOC rules, and it passed checks before it was released.

Prosecco DOC is made across nine provinces of northeast Italy. Prosecco Superiore DOCG comes only from two hill zones inside that area, Conegliano Valdobbiadene and Asolo, under stricter rules such as lower grape yields. DOC bottles carry a light blue neck strip; DOCG bottles carry a gold one. Neither tells you how sweet the wine is.

Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG is the sparkling wine from a defined hillside appellation in Veneto, northeastern Italy. The production zone covers 15 communes. Superiore belongs to that wine's full designation; it is not a general adjective to attach to any Prosecco you happen to enjoy.

Valdobbiadene Superiore di Cartizze comes from a defined subzone within the Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG area. Its vineyards lie around San Pietro di Barbozza, Santo Stefano and Saccol. Cartizze is a place designation, not another name for all Prosecco or a sweetness category.

Still Prosecco is the non-sparkling style, also called tranquillo. It has no fizz, unlike semi-sparkling frizzante or fully sparkling spumante. The absence of bubbles is intentional. You are looking at a different wine style, rather than a sparkling bottle that has lost its sparkle.

Semi-sparkling Prosecco is called frizzante. It has a gentler sparkle than spumante, the fully sparkling style. Frizzante describes the fizz, not the sweetness, so check the rest of the label before deciding whether the wine suits the meal you have in mind.

Prosecco varies by origin, sweetness, color and level of sparkle, as well as the producer’s choices. Remembering that you loved “the Italian one” is an excellent start to a story, but a difficult instruction for buying the same wine again.

Prosecco’s key characteristics include fruit and floral aromas, freshness and, in sparkling styles, bubbles. Apple and pear are familiar aroma descriptions. Sweetness and texture vary by wine: a fruity aroma does not tell you its sugar level. Read the style and sweetness terms on the bottle as well.

Prosecco is distinguished by a combination of Italian origin, Glera as its principal grape, and its regulated wine styles. Familiar Prosecco DOC spumante develops its bubbles through a second fermentation in tanks. Other sparkling wines can use that method too: neither the equipment nor the bubbles alone make a wine Prosecco.