Prosecco Please by Jane Faulkner

PROSECCO PLEASE

THERE IS A DRINK POURED IN BARS AND BISTROS ACROSS THE COUNTRY THAT’S THE PERFECT APERITIVO YET EASILY ENJOYED THROUGHOUT THE DAY AND WELL IN TO THE NIGHT. IT’S FUN, FRESH AND FIZZY, LESS EXPENSIVE THAN CHAMPAGNE AND DIFFERENT TO AUSTRALIAN BUBBLY. OF COURSE THIS CHEERY DRINK IS PROSECCO.

Words Jane Faulkner

While it is Italy’s best-known sparkling notching up a staggering 600 million bottles at its last vintage matched to a thriving export market, it is local renditions that are gaining traction.

About two thirds bought off-trade are produced here, and most come from the prosecco capital of Australia - the King Valley, north-east Victoria. For that, we can thank single-handedly the Dal Zotto family, the undisputed pioneers of the variety.

The Dal Zottos established Australia’s first commercial plantings in 1999 and six years later, released the inaugural L’Immigrante 2004, a bottle fermented prosecco just in time for Christmas. Talk about a hit. All 375 dozen bottles sold in a snap and today, they cannot keep up with demand despite adding a diverse range of styles and a total production of more than 30,000 dozen.

“We had an unwavering faith in prosecco,” says winemaker, Michael Dal Zotto. “Maybe we were optimistic but we just felt it was going to work in the King Valley.”

There were several reasons for such optimism. Michael’s father, Otto, was born in the heart of Italy’s prosecco province – Conegliano-Valdobbiadene in the Veneto, and rightly afforded top wine status of DOCG (denominazione di origine controllata e garantita). Otto feels a strong connection and similarity between that region and his adopted home in the King Valley.

Prosecco is relished for its freshness and zest appeal, yet it needs particular viticultural attention to maintain a quality level otherwise this vigorous variety produces high yields with little detail. It must be planted in the right place; a cooler climate, hills and warm days are good, cooling nights essential.

“Those cool nights work to retain natural acidity,” says Michael, “and I pick on acidity not sugar ripeness to ensure I don’t lose the fine aromatics. If you have to add acid, you’ve lost it.”

“Prosecco can run the risk of being nothing more than sweet bubbly alcohol. It shouldn’t be like that. It should smell of wisteria, jasmine and citrus. When it’s made charmat-style, it’s sherbety with lovely primary, delicate flavours.”

That sounds delicious but perhaps part of the confusion stems partly from Italian styles (see breakout box) and how it is made. Whether in Italy or Australia, almost all is produced by the tank or charmat method where secondary fermentation to create the bubbles is via enclosed pressurised stainless-steel tanks. Charmat creates fresh, vibrant fizz, usually non-vintage made to be released as a young, uncomplicated drink. And absolutely nothing wrong with that as it shines with primary fruit and exuberance. Some are bottle fermented though, labelled método classico, especially the distinct col fondo style, literally meaning ‘from the bottom’. Col fondo is aged on its lees and not disgorged. Yes, it’s cloudy so don’t freak out, these styles are dry, compelling and complex.

Given the Dal Zottos are leaders means their range covers all those production methods and styles. They recently released a special col fondo, Tabelo, the nick-name of Michael’s late nonno, Giovanni. Painstakingly made, most of the grapes are dried on racks, appassimentostyle, for 10 weeks; the concentrated fruit is pressed off and added to freshly pressed grapes. This deserves its place as Australia’s finest and most expensive prosecco at $48 ex-cellar door.

Another prosecco fan is Katherine Brown, winemaker and brand ambassador at Brown Family Wine Group, also based in the King Valley. She gets its fun factor and value for money: “Prosecco offers an easy drinking glass of bubbles anytime. Day or night without the champagne price or celebratory tag.”

However, she warns that “we don’t want to end up like Marlborough sauvignon blanc where it’s one big tap that can be turned on, which is really unfortunate for sauvignon blanc. We want to make high quality prosecco and with that comes a commitment to King Valley fruit.”

So what of the criticism levelled at prosecco being insipid, best used as the fizz base in a Bellini cocktail or Aperol spritz? Both fabulous drinks by the way.

“You’re buying the wrong bottle,” she says, “as it is certainly not neutral.”

From its first experimental batch of 2500

litres made a decade ago, Brown Brothers is now Australia’s largest prosecco producer topping 1 million litres with annual sales around $34 million. Given those numbers, it would appear Australian prosecco is gaining a foothold. But there is a caveat.

In the last five years, the variety has grown at an annual increase of nearly 50% marked by 2189 tonnes crushed in 2015 up to 9936 tonnes in 2019. According to Wine Australia’s National Vintage Report 2019, that increase has seen prosecco move from the 17th largest white variety spot to number 10. For what it’s worth, it bumped off verdelho. The report, citing IRI MarketEdge data from March 2019, reveals prosecco’s growth is mirrored in the domestic market where sales have increased more than 100 per cent in the past two years putting it at the 11th largest varietal/wine style by value in the off-trade retail wine sector.

Sounds impressive but here’s the rub: our prosecco crush is a mere drop compared with the total grape crush of around 1.73 million tonnes.

“While that appears a sizeable increase, Australian prosecco is really niche,” says Tony Battaglene, chief executive officer of Australian Grape and Wine.

And he believes that’s a very good thing. “We don’t have the right areas for quality prosecco and quality needs to be the focus. Sure, we can grow it anywhere but then it will be just another indifferent sparkling wine,” says Tony. “That’s not the road to go down and it’s why the King Valley is the premium area. If you liken it to Italy, it’s going to be the DOCG of Australia.”

ITALIAN PROSECCO

Somewhat convoluted but in 2009, the prosecco grape became known as glera in Italy, whereas Prosecco morphed in to a protected geographical indication (a designated area) under European law. The Italians wanted Aussie producers to toe the line and adopt glera but the bid failed and our producers are free to use the grape name prosecco.

Within Italian wine law of DOC (denominazione di origine controllata) and DOCG, Prosecco DOC covers about 80% of the variety’s production stretching across nine provinces from the Veneto to Friuli Venezia Giulia. This is the stuff people drink the most, the quaffable fizz. By and large the best are DOCGs because they represent the historical home of prosecco so look for Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco

Superiore, the fruit is grown on precipitous hills thus most of it is hand-harvested. This unique region has just gained UNESCO World Heritage Site in recognition for its spectacular vineyards. Perhaps the finest prosecco with a tiny production is known as Superiore di Cartizze, regarded as the region’s grand cru.

Let’s face it, most people buy prosecco without knowing who made it as the appeal is price driven. Prosecco offers great value. Anthony D’Anna, wine merchant and director of operations at Boccaccio Cellars in Melbourne, says King Valley on a label has leverage but Prosecco DOC with a retail price of $18 to $20 forms 80% of his prosecco sales.

ITALIAN STYLE

There are different levels of sweetness with Italian prosecco with brut the driest with a residual sugar level up to 12 grams per litre, the most popular style is extra-dry with 12 to 17 grams; dry is 17 grams to 32 grams and demi-sec a sweet 32 to 50 grams per litre. Apart from fermentation in stainless steel tank or bottle fermentation, styles can vary from slightly fizzy labelled frizzante, or spumante as in full sparkling and even a still wine is produced called tranquillo.

ONE AUSSIE PROSECCO BUBBLING BRIGHTLY

TEMPUS TWO HAS DEVELOPED A STRONG REPUTATION FOR ITS SPARKLING WINES AND CURRENTLY HAVE TWO PROSECCOS IN ITS PORTFOLIO, MEETING THE ON-GOING TREND FOR THE STYLISH ITALIAN VARIETAL, WHICH IS THRIVING IN AUSTRALIA.

“Unlike Champagne, Prosecco is less yeasty with more emphasis on delivering a fruit-forward style over the secondary characters you see in some of France’s trademark bubbles. This fruitier style is something Australia does particularly well,” said Tempus Two Winemaker, Andrew Duff.

“I think the varietal is working extremely well in Australia due to a number of reasons. The name has a bit to do with it - Glera isn’t as attractive a name as Prosecco - but mainly its versatility as an aperitif. Have it on its own as a sparkling wine or mixed in a cocktail, Aperol spritz is a great example.

“The Tempus Two Varietal series Prosecco comes from New South Wales and is fruit-driven with balanced acidity and a long, elegant finish. The Copper series Prosecco hails from the Adelaide Hills and is made in the true Italian Prosecco style, it’s very dry and zesty. It is perfect served well-chilled as an aperitif or, due to its relatively low alcohol content and high acidity, it pairs exceptionally well with spicy Asian dishes. The citrus notes in the wine act like a squeeze of lemon with seafood.”

- Melissa Parker