Leggo my Prosecco

Italian DOC region of Prosecco, Valdobbiadene Hills

Today, we will learn a lesson Italian wines and their classifications. For this lesson, I will be using Karen MacNeil's The Wine Bible and Hugh Johnson & Janice Robinson's The World Atlas of Wine. The Italian government is sometimes frustrating, corrupt and just plain confusing. Let's be honest, here. And their wine regulations and laws are no exception.

In 1963, Italy enacted their DOC laws (Denominazione de Origine Controllata) to regulate standards for certain types of wine. Shortly thereafter, winemakers across Italy were up in arms because the standards were based on "traditional" practices and "traditional" tastes. Certain winemakers (making undeniably great wines using nontraditional, innovative practices) got tired of their wines being considered vino da tavola (table wine, the lowest status), because of these regulations. In 1980, the government passed a new -and misleading - regulation DOCG (Denominazione de Origine Controllata e Garantita), wines of exceptional quality and renown. The standards were enven more strict than the DOC. Examples of DOCG wines are: brunello di Montalcino, Barolo, Chianti Classico, and many more. As with the DOC, there were problems with DOCG regulations: the word "garantita" implied the quality was guaranteed when it was not, and it applied to an entire region sometimes including the most plebian of wines. So instead of reforming the regulations, they just created one more IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) to include the country wines. The IGT wines are thought to be good and sometimes great wines, but historically are not as recognized as the DOC and DOCG wines. Jump for more!

All this being said, there is a new DOCG (divided into two regions, actually) for prosecco. Prosecco is a grape originating from the Tre Venezie, a larger area of three wine regions that surround Venice in Italy's northesat corner. Known as the Italian bubbly, prosecco is a spumante or sparkling wine; it is less dramatic, slightly sweeter and softer than Champagne. The new DOCG regions of Prosecco will begin with this coming vintage and they are Conegliano and Valdobbiadene.

This past Thursday, Jimmy's Food Store had a free Prosecco/Sparkling Wine tasting. The wines were largely prosecco with a few moscato d'Asti. The back wine room was packed with prosecco fans and neophiles alike. It was a vivacious group of interested customers and informed wine reps. A few favorites were the Caposaldo Prosecco, one of the most traditional proseccos in the room; Rotari Talento Rose, an elegant sparkling Rose, and lastly, one of the sweeter proseccos, Bastianich Flor Prosecco. The tour of pours ended with two wines from the new DOCGs of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene. Slighlty more expensive, these wines were distinctive in structure but overall, I found the less expensive non DOCG proseccos most enjoyable. For a great buy, check out the Mionetto Prosecco Brut!