PROSECCO'S RAPID RISE

PROSECCO’S APPEAL IS BEING DRIVEN INTO THE STRATOSPHERE, AS ANDREW GRAHAM DISCOVERS.

In the words of cultural icon Paris Hilton, Prosecco is ‘so hot right now’. One of the fastest growing segments in the wine industry, Prosecco has enjoyed three consecutive years of growth averaging near 50 per cent per annum (according to IRI figures), which is second only to rosé.

A sunrise over Jacob’s Creek vineyards

Dragan Radocaj Photography

Despite the rampant success, this is also a segment that is carefully poised, with locally made Prosecco under considerable threat from political issues and global production struggling to keep up with demand.

Further, while still seen as a premium Champagne alternative, recent moves towards RTD-like blends and convenient packaging suggest a market that is in a fascinating state of flux.

But will the future of Prosecco be as a premium sparkling or a cider-esque daily drink?

AUSTRALIAN PROSECCO – THE EARLY YEARS

Unsurprisingly, Prosecco’s history in Australia has a strong Italian accent.

While Italian Prosecco has been imported for some time, it took until 1999 for a locally produced example to break cover – and it was an Italian who did it.

Otto Dal Zotto (from Dal Zotto Wines) was brought up in the home of Prosecco, Valdobbiadene in northern Italy. He always thought that the King Valley had many similarities to his homeland and always wanted to make Prosecco there.

By chance, Dal Zotto and family discovered that 19 years previously a fellow Italian migrant had already brought the variety to Australia and was willing to spare some cuttings.

It took another five years for the first vintage of Prosecco to be released, finally unveiled in December 2004.

Since then, the King Valley has become the undisputed centre of the $60 million Australian Prosecco market, with the Valley taking over half of that.

More than just a production centre, the King Valley producers have also created a celebrated wine and food trail known as the Prosecco Road.

Dal Zotto cellar door

One of the key drivers of the Prosecco Road alongside Dal Zotto is Brown Brothers, which is also the undisputed heavyweight of Prosecco production in Australia.

For the second consecutive year, Brown Brothers has been the biggest driver of Prosecco growth too, accounting for 30 per cent of growth (IRI March 2018) across four different product lines.

As ever with the restless team at Brown Brothers they’re not focusing solely on Champagne competitors either, with the family recently releasing their category hopping Prosecco-based Prosecco Spritz in a can.

They’re not alone either, with one of Australia’s biggest brands, Jacob’s Creek, also embracing this Prosecco-based style with immediate results.

Pernod Ricard Winemakers’ Global Marketing Director for Australian Brands, Derek Oliver, explains: “We launched Jacob’s Creek Prosecco Spritz in July 2017 in Australia. Within a year of launch, Jacob’s Creek Prosecco Spritz became the number one premium and sparkling wine innovation by volume and value.”

Despite this rampant popularity, Prosecco is still seen at Pernod to be a quality sparkling wine, as Oliver explains.

“For Jacob’s Creek we see a bright future for Prosecco and the focus will (continue) to be on premium offerings for our consumers,” he said.

And it doesn’t stop with Jacob’s Creek, Australian Vintage Limited (AVL) is also seeing strong demand for Prosecco.

Scott Burton, General Manager, Marketing at AVL, explains: “Prosecco is taking Australia by storm, just as it has done in the UK and US markets. Sales have rocketed up and we are definitely seeing an uplift in demand as a result.”

Interestingly, this is a product that is popular in on- and off-premise, as Burton notes.

“In the on-premise channel, Tempus Two Copper Series Prosecco is the number one selling wine in the portfolio, reflecting the change in consumption from special occasion to becoming part of a drinker’s regular repertoire.”

Tempus Two Cellar Door

For Calabria Family Wines, their Prosecco story has been driven by an Italian make in a joint venture that has proven very popular.

Elizabeth Calabria-Staltare believes that the trend can be viewed in the context of Moscato.

“Trends are showing that wine drinkers are looking for a light dry sparkling wine with lower alcohol – we saw this movement with the success of Moscato and in my view we are confident in saying that Prosecco is the next big fashion for people who prefer drier sparkling styles,” she said.

Finally, clever distributor Fourth Wave Wine has also embraced Prosecco in a can too, putting an Australian varietal Prosecco into 250ml cans under the Mascareri label. It is already proving popular, with its 12g/L dosage making for a light and generous crowd pleaser.

PROSECCO HEARTLAND POWERING ON

While much of the focus in Australia has been on locally made Prosecco, local production is a mere drop in a wine ocean compared to how much Prosecco is now made in Italy.

In 2016, there were 410 million bottles of Prosecco DOC produced, up from 141 million bottles in 2010, plus more than 100 million bottles as DOCG.

That increase has seen growth now outstripping any other sparkling wine category – particularly Champagne, which is predicted to grow by just one per cent (IWSR 2017 figures).

What’s also interesting is that despite this production increase, a short 2017 vintage (which saw a drop in Italian wine production by 26 per cent according to Coldiretti) has also caused price increases of 10-15 per cent. In other words, this is a category where volumes and value are increasing.

Local importers have seen this first hand, with Kollaras seeing the unbridled growth with some of their products.

Michael Kollaras explains: “In 2015, Kollaras began supplying Maschio De Cavalieri Treviso to Independent Brands Australia (IBA) stores, exclusively. To say the brand has seen great success is an understatement, and sales rates rival Australia’s leading brand.”

“We are (also) seeing the average price per unit increase year on year, which suggests consumers are trading up.”

Jacob’s Creek vineyards

Dragan Radocaj Photography

One important point of difference that Italian Prosecco has over local lines is that there is a clear hierarchy of quality – which Australia lacks.

Kollaras has noticed this too: “Italian Prosecco caters to a number of consumers in different price points and profiles. You can find three quality tiers, starting with DOC, to DOCG, and the finest standard – Cartizze. Given a more serious and flavourful Valdobbiadene DOCG Prosecco can be purchased for around $20, those in the know can get a better quality wine... (The more) our market learns about the category, we anticipate that consumers will explore other options.”

THE ITALIAN THREAT

While the focus for Italian Prosecco producers has been on increasing production, there has been a recent political push that could hobble competitors to the Italian product.

In 2009, the Italians renamed the grape from Prosecco to Glera in a move that was seen as a contentious ‘grape grab’, locking in the name Prosecco as a European geographical indicator instead of a grape.

To further cement this move, the European Commission then attempted to register Prosecco as a GI in Australia, only to be refused in 2013.

Now, with an Australia-EU Free Trade Agreement looming, Italy has made it clear that it wants a formal recognition of the GI as part of the agreement – a move that would effectively stop the use of Prosecco and force producers to embrace the decidedly unsexy Glera.

The Victorian Government has acknowledged the importance of Prosecco to the King Valley in particular, committing $50 million to the further development of the Prosecco Road. Other politicians on all sides of Parliament have also highlighted that this is an issue. But the question remains about whether this sort of commitment will be enough to stop Australian Prosecco becoming Free Trade Agreement collateral damage.

Dal Zotto CEO and Winemaker, Michael Dal Zotto, believes that there is only one real name.

“Let’s not embrace Glera. Our father Otto Dal Zotto grew up in Valdobbiadene, the home of Prosecco, and throughout his life he only ever heard Prosecco being made from Prosecco. End of discussion,” he said.

GOING PINK

Beyond just names, there is another change afoot that could drive Prosecco’s appeal into the stratosphere.

At a board meeting of the Prosecco DOC Consorzio in March, members voted in favour of creating rules to let producers begin making Prosecco rosé. While Pinot Noir has always been allowed in the blend (up to 15 per cent), it has strictly been used for making white wine. Mooted rule changes would allow this to be still wine, effectively green-lighting the production of Prosecco rosé within the DOC.

The appeal of making rosé is as much a question of trends as anything else, with rosé the fastest growing category in many market around the world, rising by 60 per cent YOY in Australia alone (IRI figures).

While not all producers are convinced – particularly in the traditional DOCG areas within the Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG – there is no question that this segment could further propel Prosecco’s appeal.

QUALITY AUSTRALIANS

In the face of these Italian challenges, many Australian producers (particularly in the King Valley) believe that a premium product (with quality packaging) is the only way forward.

One producer that has pushed a quality product in top packaging is Pizzini, with winemaker Joel Pizzini using an uncompromising approach.

“I believe hand-picking the fruit and whole bunch pressing (in particular) makes all the difference. The palate is longer and more delicate,” he said.

“We use some solids in the fermentation to give the wine richness and edges of complexity and has a nice dry long finish.”

For the Prosecco originals at Dal Zotto, the future also includes a very traditional style – the Col Fondo.

Col Fondo translates as ‘with bottom’ or ‘with sediment’ and refers to a Prosecco style where the second (sparkling) fermentation is happening in the bottle – much like Champagne. Col Fondo is often seen as the most historic style of Prosecco, but fell out of favour in recent times when the juicier, bright style of modern tank-fermented wine gained favour.

The appeal of this cloudy and sometimes funky style of Prosecco is complexity, with the lees often giving extra layers of flavour. Lots of contemporary Italian producers are embracing (or re-embracing) Col Fondo and it promises much for more interesting Prosecco.

Tempus Two tasting room

Over at Vinea Marson their Col Fondo has proved very popular, as Madeleine Marson explains: “We produce a very small amount of Col Fondo in addition to our regular Prosecco, more out of the interest of the winemaker than anything else, however it has become a popular wine at the Cellar Door so we will continue to produce it.

“The Col Fondo is an engaging wine in this context. You have to explain what it is and how to serve it, as it can be prone to foaming so that it is a great spectacle wine – but one which needs a decanter handy.”

IS THERE A MARKET FOR PREMIUM PROSECCO?

Mark Singarella runs retailer and importer business, Vino Bambino, and sells a whole range of Prosecco styles from local and international producers.

Singarella too sees Prosecco as “a fresh alternative to Champagne and also more affordable”. Interestingly, he has also noticed that one of the hot trends is the rising popularity of organic wines, with the drier Extra Brut styles also continuing to be most popular.

For the most important view on selling premium Prosecco in Australia, however, we need to confer with the queen.

Melissa Brauer helped establish Australia’s first Prosecco festival and quickly got the title of Prosecco Queen. She now runs Prosecco masterclasses and sells Prosecco through her website www.theproseccoqueen.com.au.

As she explains, the sky is the limit when it comes to premium Prosecco: “I definitely think the market is there for better quality Prosecco.

“Consumers are ready to learn more about Prosecco and make informed decisions about what they are buying. We have some stunning examples of DOCG Prosecco available in Australia that are retailing from anywhere between $25 and $60 a bottle, and people are learning that paying more equates to a more elegant, refined style of Prosecco, where the terroir is evident from the very first sip.”