Visit the greatest vineyard for Prosecco: the Cartizze Vineyard in Valdobbiadene, Italy. Bisol Prosecco takes us to their piece of the Cartizze Vineyard. We drink Prosecco while he explains the vineyard's importance.
After returning to the Bisol winery, we'll get an explanation of how Prosecco is made and what is the challenge behind making a natural wine prosecco with no sulfites.
Check out the six-minute video or read a transcript below.
This is Episode #71 of Understanding Wine with Austin Beeman.
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Transcript:
105 hectares divided in 154 owners. And one acre is $1 million. And that's make it the most expensive single plots in Italy. And using the French words, here the terroir is perfect. So have different soil, Cartizze which is this one, this rock, top sandy soil, south facing, the winds coming from the valley, which is cool down during the day, and make this Terroir unique. Which make the grapes, only at this vineyard, we've got fully ripeness, rich fruits, but retain the acidity.
Prosecco is a sparkling wine. But not like the Champagne and Cava. It is made with the charmant method, or as we call it the metodo Italiano, Italian method. So we press [the grapes.] There is over there the de-stemmer, it's a long screw, we separate the stem and the grapes. After it goes in this press, one, two, and three press, where it is a kind of pipe which gently press the grapes. Really important the gentle press because we don't want bitterness from the seeds. After got the grape juice, it's filtrated and it goes in a normal tank. For the normal tank, the yeast, the sugar and produce alcohol. And that's the way 99% of the wine is made. Harvest, de-stemming, pressing, tank, where fermentation.
The Champagne and Cava goes in the bottle with the addition of sugar and the yeast because they want to secondary aroma, maturity, complexity. For us,Prosecco is all about uncomplicated aroma. It's all about the freshness. It's all about the easy fruitiness. You drink it, and leave a nice, refreshing, fruit driven. And that's why the Prosecco has been so successful. You give a glass of Prosecco to everybody, and they want the bottle. Because it's got lower acidity compared to Champagne. Smaller, fine, elegant bubble. A touch of sugar to make it more soft and more gentle on the palate. And lower alcohol. And that's why I call it the uncomplicated bubble.
You open it, you drink, and you enjoy. It's ready 24/7.
All our vineyards are organically farmed. But the only problem Valdobbiadene, the average plot is less than one hectares. So we've got one hectare here, two, three, five. Only one place we've got 20 hectares, so 50 acres, which are organic certified. But it goes, blend into the wine. So the vinification is as natural as possible. That's why we came out in '09 with a Prosecco with no use of sulfites. It's just grape juice, natural yeast, and nothing else. Its as natural as possible.