Italian Sparkling

THERE ARE 20 WINE REGIONS IN ITALY, WHICH ARE HOME TO OVER 350 TYPES OF GRAPE. THE MAJOR TYPES OF SPARKLING WINES FROM ITALY INCLUDE PROSECCO, ASTI SPUMANTE, LAMBRUSCO AND FRANCIACORTA.

WORDS RACHEL STEVENSON

ITALY PRODUCES MORE SPARKLING wines than any other country in the world and has been doing so since Roman times. In fact, Italy was making spumante, the Italian word for sparkling wine, way before even Dom Perignon.

The majority of Italian sparkling wines are produced in Piedmont, Veneto and Lombardy, the cooler regions of northern Italy and unlike Champagne, they are made using the Charmat method, whereby the wine’s second fermentation is completed in a tank, rather than in the bottles, a technique often used by low alcohol wines such as Asti and Moscato d’Asti.

One of the most famous types of Italian wines is Prosecco. A region in Veneto in northwest Italy, Prosecco is made from the white Prosecco grape ‘Glera’ which produces a fruity, dry wine. A sub-region called Valdobbiandene is considered to be the producer of the highest quality Prosecco.

As well as Valdobbiandene, there are many other regions in Italy producing sparkling wines; made only with Moscato Bianco grapes, Asti Spumante, a very sweet, sparkling wine, is produced in southeastern Piedmont, as well as Asti and Albais and Lombardy is produced in Emilia-Romagna and Lombardy, again using the Charmat method. ❧