Over the last few years, Prosecco has become the drink of choice of a lot of people all around the world. It used to be champagne that was a fizzy favourite but recently, this has changed and Prosecco is now the bubbly drink of choice. Lot’s of people are now enjoying Prosecco on it’s own, or in a fancy cocktail.
Prosecco is a fizzy wine that originates from Italy and it is thought the name comes from the small Italian village of Prosecco near Trieste. It is produced from nine provinces spanning the Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia regions of Italy.
Whilst Prosecco is only ‘allowed’ to be served form bottles, it is possible to get the same drink in a keg, but this does bring up some confusion. The Prosecco makers in Italy have said that true Prosecco can only come from a bottle and not a keg. This comes from a European law made in 2009 which states that “Prosecco wine shall be marketed exclusively in traditional glass bottles”.
So when you see one of our vans selling Fizz from a tap or pump, we have to call this Fizz, although it is exactly the same drink that is found in our Prosecco bottles that we sell.
Unlike expensive (and some say very over priced) champagne, Prosecco is usually produced using the Charmat-Martinotti method. This is where the secondary fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks. Making the fizz this way is easier and also less expensive to produce.
A huge 150 million bottles of Prosecco are made in Italy each year! Unlike it’s expensive cousin champagne, Prosecco does not ferment in the bottle, and this means that it grows stale over time. Where as champagne gets better with age, Prosecco does not. It should be drunk as young as possible, ideally within three years of its vintage, although high-quality Prosecco may be aged for up to seven years.
