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Motus Vitae Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Rive di S. Pietro di Barbozza DOCG Extra Brut Grande Cuvée del Fondatore This is a big, creamy, fruity wine, with abundant ripe citrus, peach nectar, and candied grapefruit and orange peel. It’s an aperitif wine that dal Bianco suggested pairing with fish or mushroom risotto. Fragrant of citrus and yellow peaches steeped inherbs. Its quiet, spumy moussedelivers a pop of acid, fruit, and salt, while snappy notes of freshtarragon and savory and a scattering of mineralsadd dimension. We won’t go on, as we know you’re eager to get to our list of the best Prosecco brands to try right now, but we did just want to share a few facts about Prosecco that we learned during our testing. The most interesting of those (we think) is that ‘extra dry’ is not the driest Prosecco. ‘Brut’ Prosecco is, in fact, the driest while ‘dry’ actually describes fairly sweet Prosecco. Finally, we had a raft of rosés, as we assessed the quality of producers now making pink Prosecco, since the authorisation to do so in the DOC came in late 2020. These proved to be a delicious addition to the category, with the cherry fruit from the Pinot Noir red wine used to give these Proseccos their colour – usually a pale salmon pink – adding a complementary characteristic to the base wines made with the Glera grape.
Confusingly, Extra Dry Prosecco has more sugar than Brut, making it feel rounder, fleshier, and more floral. Here, gingered petals, spicy herbs, and a glittery mid-palateadd levity. The Adami Extra Dry has aspumy mousse with flavors of peach, ripepear, and yellow apple. Grassy herbs and yellow citrus pith add bite. Slightly nettley, with not much fruit clarity or precision. THE palate has a fairly bland character and not quite pushing through convincingly. 84Notes on six Masottina sparklers are below. Only three are imported, but I’ve included them all to show what Prosecco in the right hands can do. Col fondo wines contain leesy sediment, which makes the body cloudy and very savory. This one’s quiet, with stony aromatics that complement toasty biscuit and brioche, almondand almond extract, and suggestions of forest honey and hazelnuts. Fabulously attractive pear-drop and floral nose with little peach down notes and touches of herbs. Very fresh on the palate, with lots of lemony bite and cool apple fruit. Very attractive, fairly dances on the tongue. 88/100 Delicate pear aromas, with apple and small floral notes. In the mouth only gently frizzante, with a razor-edge of acidity and a nice bite of apple and lemon acidity playing against a dry, lovely fruitiness. 88/100
What: It might be the cheapest prosecco on this list, but that’s definitely not to say it’s the least tasty. With undertones of pear, citrus and lychee, this Lidl Prosecco provides an elegantly-balanced sip that’s ideal for getting a party started. It also pairs well with cicchetti (but then, very few Proseccos don’t). Subtle, steely, almost ozone-like salty minerality. Quite distinctive, with a little toffee quality coming through. The palate has good sweetness, and a ripe, almost buttery note, but a really fresh finish. A complex Prosecco this. 90
The medallists: Prosecco DOCG (continued)
An IGT wine, secondary fermentation is in bottle, fermented with natural yeasts. Again, pear drop, typical Prosecco nose. A little bit of herbal character, but all very gentle. The palate has a softness and a very dry lemon fruit and acidity. Very nice in a gentle style that is also taut and precise. 88/100
What: For easy drinking you can’t beat this light, crisp bottle which makes a refreshing option for pre-dinner drinks. There’s a subtle sweetness, without it becoming sugary and there isn’t too much fizz either to overpower the palate. An added bonus to this popular serve is that it’s also often on offer for 25% off which represents great value for money. Glera grapes at harvest in Masottina’s Contrada Granda vineyard, Ogliano Americans drink a lot of Prosecco, nearly four million caseseach year,withannual growth in the middouble digits. Most of it is simple stuff, colorless and lightly citrusy—butsparkling, at least. These notes accompany our in-depth feature on Prosecco. For profiles of all of these estates please see Regional report: Prosecco, icing sugar and lemons.
About the competition
A table wine from the Collii di Conegliano Rizzardo vineyard, the first vintage of which was 1997. It is a blend of Chardonnay, Manzoni, Riesling, Pinot Bianco and Sauviognon Blanc, 50% was aged in barriques, 50% of which were new. Heavily marked by toasty and vanillin oak. Has a fumé Sauvignon character, with some piercing white fruit and great acidity, the nuttiness is subtle and this finishes with cool, Cox’s Pippin fruit acidity. 89/100
What: Not only is Morrisons Prosecco tasty and affordable, it’s also suitable for vegans – bonus! Made with grapes sourced from the best area in Italy, Conegliano Valdobbiadene, Morrisons The Best Valdobbiadene delivers intense flavours of fresh green apple and pear and overtones of apple blossom.Then there was further variation with source area, with, in particular, the Proseccos from all the DOCGs proving especially fine. Among these, it was the samples from the smaller area of Asolo that stood out for their powerful aromatics and ripe yellow fruit flavours, compensating for the fact that these wines tend to be a bit drier than their equivalents from Conegliano and Valdobbiadene.
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