Prosecco

What it is

More than 600 million bottles a year make Prosecco the world’s largest sparkling wine export, over three times the volume of Champagne. The base is consistent: a minimum 85% Glera, a neutral grape from Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, second fermentation in stainless steel tanks. The profile leans on pear, white blossom, sometimes a green-apple edge, low acid, little autolytic complexity.

Three tiers, three worlds

The DOC pyramid often gets flattened into a single category, but the gap between the tiers is wide.

Prosecco DOC covers the flatlands of nine provinces and accounts for the volume. Everything here revolves around scale and price. The wines are correct, fruity, and built for quick consumption.

Prosecco Superiore DOCG Conegliano Valdobbiadene comes from 15 hill villages between Conegliano and Valdobbiadene. The UNESCO recognition granted in 2019 reinforces the terroir narrative: steep slopes, small parcels, hand harvest mandated by the gradient. Within the DOCG, two sub-categories rarely get the attention they deserve. Rive identifies a single-vineyard wine from one of 43 designated hillside parcels. Cartizze, just 108 hectares on the sharpest flanks near Valdobbiadene, is the most coveted fragment.

Asolo DOCG sits to the west, smaller and quieter, with its own Superiore designation.

Read critically

The mass market has damaged how the category is perceived. Anyone judging Prosecco solely on supermarket DOC misses the point: the DOCG wines from the steep hills of Cartizze and Rive are serious expressions of terroir, with more minerality and length than the prevailing consensus around the category would allow. Producers like Bisol, Nino Franco, Bortolomiol and Sorelle Bronca show what Glera can do on calcareous conglomerate soils above 300 metres.

The dividing line is not in the grape or in the tank method. It sits in yields, parcel selection and vinification choices. Charmat is the rule in Prosecco, not an exception, and the method-versus-quality debate misses the point here. A well-made Prosecco Superiore is not a lesser Champagne; it is a different wine with different ambitions.

Sugar scale and styles

Prosecco uses the same legal sugar scale as Champagne but with different practical emphases. Extra Brut (0-6 g/l) is rare, usually a producer statement. Brut (0-12 g/l) is the modern premium choice, especially at Conegliano Valdobbiadene Superiore level. Extra Dry (12-17 g/l, sweeter than the name suggests) sold for decades as the most popular Prosecco style and remains the base for traditional Italian aperitivo culture. Dry (17-32 g/l) and Demi-Sec appear mostly in festive dessert pairings. Spumante (fully sparkling) versus Frizzante (softer mousse, lower pressure) is a separate specification independent of sugar level.

Market figures and export

Prosecco DOC produced around 638 million bottles in 2024 (Consorzio Prosecco DOC data), with roughly 65 percent exported. Top markets: United Kingdom (180 million bottles), United States (140 million), Germany (90 million). The Netherlands sits at around 35 million bottles per year. Prosecco Superiore DOCG is much smaller: 95 million bottles total combining Conegliano Valdobbiadene and Asolo. That order of magnitude explains why the premium segment remains commercially understated in retail: volume is too low for the largest supermarket chains.

For the drinker

To explore the style: start with Conegliano Valdobbiadene Superiore Brut from Nino Franco or Bisol (around €15-20). Step up to Rive bottlings (single-vineyard, €20-30) from Adami, Le Vigne di Alice or Sorelle Bronca. Cartizze bottlings (€30-45) sit at the top, but rarely deliver a dramatic flavour gap over a good Rive; the difference mostly reflects rarity. Drink cold (6-8 °C) in a tulip glass rather than a flute (the flute is too narrow for the aromatic lift).

In the glass

Expect pear, yellow apple, white flowers, sometimes acacia honey in the DOCG bottles. The mousse is airier than bottle-fermented wines, the CO₂ more volatile. Serve around 7 degrees, in a white-wine glass rather than a flute that strangles the aromatics.