Two nights spent in Treviso meant that we were quite close to Valdobbiadene - better known as the heart of Prosecco production.
A day trip to this part of Italy revealed that there is so much more to Prosecco than people may believe. These days Prosecco is known the world over and is generally inexpensive and light in body, often lacking much charm or interest. Its Glera grape is often encouraged to yield highly, with fruit often machine-harvested to keep production costs down and to allow for large-scale viticulture.
But Valdobbiadene tells a different story and helps highlight the producers who approach Prosecco production from a small-scale, quality-driven point of view. Here, particularly in what is considered the ‘grand cru’ of the region in Cartize, yields are lower, vines are older and viticulturists strive for ripeness and genuine fruit character. Additionally, this part of the region is surprisingly steep which aids ripening and helps facilitate drainage. It also makes picking by hand a necessity. All of these things drive up quality, so it was a refreshing view of a region that I tend to discount (to be entirely honest).
The wines tasted ranged from clean, pleasant and light to wines with a bit more finesse and finer textures and detail. They’re still light and lack the depth of good Champagne (as an obvious comparison) but it is clear when tasting a wine that is made by someone striving for quality, compared to those made in large volumes solely to hit a (low) price point. The producer that impressed most was certainly Casa Coste Piane, both with his DOCG Prosecco and his ‘Brichet’ which cannot carry the Prosecco Valdobbiadene DOCG title and appellation due to the inclusion of some Riesling.
