By Manos Angelakis

It is holiday time again and Champagne is consumed in large quantities to celebrate the festivities and toast-in the New Year.

During the last few years, quality Champagne from the major producing houses has become extremely expensive. Yes, it is wonderful to celebrate with a glass or two of top-of-the-line Champagne, but at the current prices… after all it is only fermented grape juice. Of course, there are also many less expensive and very good Champagne producers and some of the less-known houses, like Philippe Gonet – a producer of Champagnes for 7 generations, and Nicolas Feuillatte – producing Champagnes for the last 30 years, create vintage and non-vintage Champagnes that are as good or better than the traditional top houses at a lower price. There are also many sparkling wines that I consider as good tasting as Champagne, so we decided to call together the “gang of the usual suspects” to explore bubblies from other countries, as alternatives to top-cru Champagne.

We started our explorations with Prosecco, an Italian wine produced from prosecco grapes, which comes in three styles: tranquillo (still), frizzante (slightly effervescent) and spumante (sparkling). It is Italy's answer to a refreshing, well-made sparkling wine at a reasonable price. In its authentic form, Prosecco is a vibrant sparkler that can be had as an aperitif, with main courses, or with dessert. The DOCG production zone lies in the hills between the communes of Valdobbiadene and Conegliano, in Italy’s Veneto region. It consists of 15 municipalities with about 10,750 acres of vineyards.

The difference in body and taste between Prosecco and Champagne is the way the sparkler is produced. In short, with Champagne, secondary fermentation takes place in the bottle and that creates the bubbles and complexity in the wine, but requires long cellaring to complete the process and lots of manual attention to the bottles resting in racks in the producer’s cellar The Champagne’s body is fuller and, in most cases very dry. Prosecco, is made in the Charmat method that allows the secondary fermentation to take place in a stainless vat. I find Prosecco fresh and lively, as it is designed to be drunk young.  I think of it as fruity, refreshing and elegant, with a medium body and floral aromatics and, sometimes, a subtle yeastiness. 

Close to Valdobbiadene, is the hamlet of Cartizze, a small, hilly zone of around 110 hectares that produces a mere 8 million bottles a year of the best bubbly in Italy. All Cartizze sparklers are made from hand picked grapes that grow on south-facing, very steep, hillsides. Most of the top producers have plots in the Cartizze hills and each one produces only a small number of these premium bottles. Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Superiore di Cartizze is marked on every bottle of the Prosecco and it is an elegant, straw yellow effervescent wine with a persistent and subtle perlage, mostly off-dry, with peach, melon and pear flavors and honeysuckle, citrus and white flower aromas. At its finest, Prosecco di Cartizze can have some of the complexity of Champagne.

Bisol Desiderio Prosecco Superiore di Cartizze: Straw colored, with an aroma of apple and white peaches. Medium-full body with very good concentration and a crisp, very elegant finish that offers fine, food-friendly acidity. I consider it as one of the best Proseccos produced today. 

Villa Sandi Prosecco di Cartizze: Very pale straw colored with tiny perlage. Intensely fruity; delicately off-dry. Nose of acacia flowers, apple and citrus. Great as an aperitif or with semi-sweet pastry. Could also accompany very well sushi or a seafood salad.

Le Colture Prosecco Spumante Superiore di Cartizze: One of the most underrated and delicious Italian sparkling wines. Pale yellow with a persistent perlage. Stone fruits, apricots and peaches blend into a hint of orange flowers and jasmine. A hint of buttery brioche on the finish.

Finally, an excellent non-Cartizze Prosecco di Conegliano-Valdobbiadene Canella Extra Dry NV: Certainly one of the top wines of the region, Canella's Prosecco, even though not a Cartizze, is lovely and suave with an extra dose of complexity. Its sweetness is balanced perfectly by the lively acidity. The perfect aperitif on a hot summer evening.

To your health.

© November 2010 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.