Sunday, December 16, 2007

While We Are On The Subject of Prosecco...

Vino Girl was asked to open a bottle of Prosecco last night for some thirsty holiday revelers. Since it was decidedly not Paris Hilton's new Prosecco-in-a-can, I went to grab a towel to put around the neck of the bottle. That is when I noticed that the bottle was not sealed with a typical mushroom Champagne cork but with a regular wine cork. I don’t recall ever noticing that before. I was a little nervous about taking somebody’s eye out so I moved away from the crowd with the bottle and a corkscrew. The Prosecco opened quite easily and the cork didn’t fly out of the bottle or anything dodgy like that. It was your basic fun, light, festive bubbly. I looked into the cork situation because sometimes you just have to know. Apparently when Prosecco is frizzante (lightly fizzy) versus spumante (very fizzy, more bubbles) it is sometimes safely bottled with a regular cork. Who knew?

Five Fun Facts About Prosecco:

Prosecco is a sparkling wine from the Veneto region of Italy.

Prosecco is the name of the grape.

The best Prosecco comes from the area of Conegliano Valdobbiadene -- look for it on the bottle.

Prosecco is generally less complex, with less alcohol, than Champagne from France.

The process that creates the bubbles in Champagne is done right in the bottle whereas for Prosecco the process is done in a big steel tank.


1 comment:

  1. Thanks for the info. I bought a bottle of Prosecco and I could not get the cork out. The label said not to use a corkscrew, but I had no other choice. I read your piece while holding the bottle with one hand and using the mouse with the other. The corkscrew worked just fine.

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