Casa Coste Piane Prosecco Valdobbiadene 2022

Whenever we ask winemakers around Italy if they like and drink prosecco, the response is usually “No!” but the name Casa Coste Piane was continually evoked as the one exception.  For this ancestral (bottle-fermented) semi-sparkling wine is lightyears away from the industrial fizz that has become the number-one-selling sparkling wine in the world. A third-generation producer working 6 Ha of land in the “holy ground” of Valdobbiadene-Conegliano, a 25km long double strip of mountainous vineyards. Planted horizontally along the 40° steep hills in a system known as girapoggio, some of their vines are over 80 years old and have been propagated using massal selection (i.e. old clones). Whole bunches are put in a basket press where the weight of the fruit and very light pressure extract the best juice. The juice undergoes static decantation by lowering the temperature and racking it into stainless steel. Fermentation is induced by means of pied de cuve – the winemaking equivalent of sourdough starter –  after which further racking takes place. For a wine that ferments in the bottle and is left on its lees for at least 7 months before release, the result is spectacularly clear and simply delicious. With only 1 gramme per Litre of residual sugar (cf. 14 g/L for Extra Dry prosecco), the wine displays lovely minerality and fruity notes of pear and apple with a deliciously long finish.

Producer:

Casa Coste Piane

Region:

Veneto

Grapes:

Prosecco (a.k.a. Glera) 100%

Style:

Sparkling

Soil:

Morainic clay marl

Farming:

Organic Practices