Sparkling wine and Prosecco: that’s the difference

Sparkling wine or Prosecco
Do you know the difference?

Prosecco is a touch too much girls’ night out for some people. Some people find sparkling wine far too stiff and dry. Mixed with Aperol, ice and a splash of water, both work. At least in summer. And as long as you don’t know exactly what’s actually in the glass. When it comes to big birthdays and anniversaries, we can save ourselves the discussion from the start: if there isn’t champagne sitting cold in the buckets, something has gone wrong. But now again from the beginning and without too much experience-based prior knowledge: What on earth is what?

Prosecco

Prosecco is a wine-based drink made from grapes grown in the Prosecco region of Italy. Yeah right. There is a region in Italy called Prosecco. It is partly in Veneto and partly in Friuli – roughly in the north-east of Italy. In the Prosecco region, only certain grape varieties are permitted for cultivation, including or mainly the grape variety Glera, which must make up at least 85 percent of every bottle that can bear the name “Prosecco”. From this it follows: Growing something other than Glera in Prosecco on a large scale is only worthwhile to a limited extent.

Prosecco, like champagne, is a drink with a specific, registered origin. And contrary to popular opinion, Prosecco does not necessarily have to be sparkling: it is available as a still wine (without or barely carbonated), as a frizzante (with a little carbonation, which causes between one and 1.5 bar of pressure) and as a spumante (with a carbon dioxide content, which generates more than 3.5 bar pressure). If you like it sparkling, it’s best to choose Spumante – or save yourself the differentiation and prefer sparkling wine.

sparkling wine

The term “sparkling wine” says nothing about the grapes used or the region from which they come: it is a wine with added carbon dioxide (at least 3.5 bar), i.e. a sparkling wine. The grapes can have ripened in Germany, France, Spain, Italy or wherever you want, the only important thing is that they can be processed into a sparkling wine. For this reason, the taste differences between different types of sparkling wine can be greater than between different brands of Prosecco.

Manufacturing

Sparkling wines can basically be produced in two different ways: In one process, which is considered the classic one, fermentation takes place in the bottle, which makes every single bottle unique. In the other process, the so-called Martinotti Charmat method, the wine ferments in a steel tank and is then bottled. Prosecco and sparkling wine are usually produced using the steel tank method because it is more economical, while champagne is produced using the classic process and only the Chardonnay, Pinot noir or Pinot Meunier grape varieties are used. This is one of the reasons why champagne is usually more expensive and we only drink it on big birthdays and anniversaries unless we are richer than average.

So let’s summarize again: Prosecco doesn’t taste like a girls’ night out, it tastes like Italy. Sparkling wine is not stiff, but diverse and sometimes a surprise package, but always sparkling. And it’s best to never say no to champagne, as long as it’s free.

Sources used: der-weinmakler.de, desiderio.one, bindella.ch

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Bridget