In Prosecco rosé’s first fermentation, yeast turns grape sugars into alcohol to make the base wines. Glera is vinified as white wine and Pinot Nero as red wine. They are then blended before the later tank fermentation that retains the bubbles. The pink and the sparkle have different beginnings.
A pink glass makes the finished wine look wonderfully uncomplicated. Behind it, two grapes have had rather different afternoons in the cellar.
First, make the base wines
Glera is made into white wine. Pinot Nero, also called Pinot Noir, is vinified as red wine, with skin contact supplying colour. Yeast converts fermentable grape sugars into alcohol during this first fermentation.
For Prosecco DOC Rosé, the blend must contain 85–90% Glera and 10–15% Pinot Nero vinified as red wine. Those are category requirements, rather than the exact recipe or private cellar timetable for every producer.
Then comes the sparkling stage
The blended base wine undergoes a later fermentation in sealed pressure tanks. Carbon dioxide is retained under pressure, creating the sparkle. DOC Rosé requires a sparkling processing period of at least 60 days; that figure should not be reassigned to the first fermentation.
Our Prosecco rosé production guide follows the complete sequence, while the Martinotti method guide explains the tank stage.
What does that tell you about your bottle?
Bella Principessa’s DOC Rosé is Brut. Its blend rules explain the category’s grapes; Brut explains sweetness. Neither supplies an exact fermentation temperature or schedule for the individual wine.
The colour may have caught your eye first. Now you know which part of the process deserves the credit, without making the bubbles answer for everything.
