Wine Denomination from Piedmont
Prosecco is a sparkling white wine from northeast Italy, made mainly from the Glera grape. Prosecco DOC, the largest and best-known version, covers nine provinces: five in Veneto (Treviso, Venice, Padua, Vicenza and Belluno) and four in Friuli Venezia Giulia (Trieste, Gorizia, Pordenone and Udine). The name comes from the village of Prosecco near Trieste. The DOC was created in 2009, when the grape was renamed Glera so that "Prosecco" could be protected as a place name. It is Italy's best-selling sparkling wine, with hundreds of millions of bottles made every year.
Prosecco is light, fresh and fruity. Expect green apple, pear, white peach, lemon and white flowers, with lively bubbles and a clean finish. It is made to be drunk young, within a year or two of the harvest, while the fruit is still bright. Most Prosecco is fully sparkling (spumante). There is also a gently sparkling frizzante style, often closed with a string-tied cork, and a rare still version (tranquillo). A few producers make a cloudy, bottle-fermented frizzante called col fondo or sui lieviti, which is drier and more yeasty.
Prosecco ranges from bone dry to medium sweet, and the label tells you which. The confusing part is that Extra Dry is sweeter than Brut. From driest to sweetest:
- Brut Nature: 0–3 grams of sugar per liter. Very dry and rare.
- Extra Brut: 0–6 g/l. Dry and crisp.
- Brut: up to 12 g/l. Dry, the best all-round choice with food.
- Extra Dry: 12–17 g/l. Off-dry, soft and fruity. This is the classic Prosecco style.
- Dry: 17–32 g/l. Noticeably sweet, good with fruit desserts.
A rarer Demi-Sec style is sweeter still. If you want a dry wine, buy Brut or Extra Brut.
Prosecco spumante must have at least 11% alcohol, and most bottles are 11–12%. That is about twice the strength of a typical beer (4–6%) and a little lower than most still wines. A standard 750 ml bottle holds about five glasses.
The main difference is how the bubbles are made. Prosecco uses the tank method (also called the Charmat or Martinotti method): the second fermentation happens in large pressurized steel tanks, and the wine is bottled soon after. This keeps the fresh fruit and flower aromas of Glera. Champagne uses the traditional method: the second fermentation happens in each bottle, and the wine rests on its yeast for at least 15 months. That gives Champagne finer bubbles and notes of bread, brioche and nuts, but it also makes it slower and more costly to produce. Champagne is made from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Read our full Prosecco vs Champagne comparison. For Italian traditional-method wines, see Franciacorta and Trento DOC.
In the US, most Prosecco DOC costs about $12–20 a bottle, and supermarket brands can be cheaper. Hillside Prosecco Superiore DOCG usually costs about $18–30, and Cartizze about $30–50. Prosecco is affordable because the tank method is fast, the wine needs no long ageing, and the DOC zone is large, with much of it on flat, easy-to-farm land. Higher prices usually reflect steep hillside vineyards, lower yields and single-village wines.
Prosecco DOC is the base level. Above it are two hillside DOCGs in the province of Treviso, where vineyards are steeper and yields lower:
- Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG: the historic heart of Prosecco, in the hills between the towns of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene. These hills became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2019. Rive on the label means the grapes come from a single village or hamlet.
- Valdobbiadene Superiore di Cartizze DOCG: a single steep hill of about 107 hectares near Valdobbiadene, the most prized spot of all. Cartizze is usually made in the sweeter Dry style.
- Asolo Prosecco Superiore DOCG: the smaller hillside zone around the town of Asolo, west of Conegliano Valdobbiadene.
If you only remember one rule: for a better Prosecco, look for "Superiore DOCG" on the label.
The best Prosecco usually comes from family estates in the Conegliano Valdobbiadene hills. Benchmark names include Nino Franco, Bisol, Adami, Ruggeri, Bortolomiol, Col Vetoraz, Andreola, Sorelle Bronca and Casa Coste Piane, known for its col fondo style. Larger, widely available brands include Valdo, Villa Sandi, Santa Margherita, Astoria and Masottina.
A few bottles to start with:
- Dry and food-friendly: Adami Garbel Brut or Nino Franco Rustico.
- Classic Extra Dry: Valdo Treviso Extra Dry Millesimato.
- Step up to DOCG: Bisol Crede Brut.
- Special occasion: Bisol Cartizze Dry.
For more picks, see our best Prosecco wines guide.
Prosecco Rosé was approved in 2020. It blends Glera with 10–15% Pinot Nero (Pinot Noir), which gives a pale pink color and red-berry notes. It must be a vintage wine (Millesimato) and spend at least 60 days fermenting in tank, longer than standard Prosecco. Try the Villa Sandi Rosé Brut.
Serve Prosecco cold, at 6–8°C (43–46°F). A white wine glass or a tulip-shaped glass shows the aromas better than a narrow flute. Drink it young, ideally within a year or two of the vintage. It is also the base of the Spritz and the Bellini.
Prosecco is a natural aperitif. Brut and Extra Brut work with fried snacks, prosciutto, sushi, shellfish and light pasta. Extra Dry suits spicy Asian food and salty cheeses. Dry and Demi-Sec go with fruit tarts and panettone. See our aperitivo wine guide for more ideas.
Prosecco is pronounced proh-SEK-koh. Glera is GLEH-rah, and Valdobbiadene is val-doh-bee-AH-deh-neh.
Prosecco is the best-known wine of Veneto. Read our Veneto wine guide for Amarone, Valpolicella and Soave, our Italian sparkling wine guide for other Italian bubbles, or browse every Prosecco DOC in our catalog below.