Authentic Venetian Prosecco

Posted on | August 7, 2009

A recent advertisement for a Prosecco offer issued by Averys of Bristol and The Daily Telegraph caught my eye. It ran in the Weekend section of this venerable British newspaper on 1 August, 2009. The Daily Telegraph is a reputable newspaper. Averys of Bristol is part of Laithwaites which own Direct Wines and the Sunday Times Wine Club amongst others.

Let’s take a closer look.

The title ‘Authentic Venetian Prosecco’ is clearly designed to persuade a consumer that prosecco is a traditional and historical beverage intimately connected with ‘La Serenissima’ (produced in Venice) and that only ‘authentic prosecco’ has the right to be considered as such. The bottle contained in the offer is one such example.

However, there is no such thing as ‘Authentic Venetian prosecco’. The descriptive ‘Venetian’ only refers to the city of Venice (not the Veneto nor Friuli Venezia Giulia) and no wine has ever been made in Venice for the simple reason there are no vineyards. Much of the wine consumed during Venice’s early history was made in the south of Italy (Puglia) and the modern drink known as ‘Prosecco’ was only created in its current form in the early part of the 20th century following the invention of the system for producing the secondary fermentation in sealed stainless steel vats which results in the wines effervescence. It is then bottled directly. This was an Italian invention (1895 Federico Martinotti) albeit patented by a Frenchman (Charmat). The first bottle of wine produced with ‘Prosecco’ on the label was only in 1924 manufactured using the Charmat method. The wine appears to have no quality labelling attached to it - IGT or DOC.

Prosecco is the name of a grape not an area, which is why it had (until this year) escaped protection under Italian/European law in its use/misuse unlike, for example, Champagne. Prosecco is grown all over the world and apart from its heartland in Italy of Conegliano-Valdobbiadene it is grown throughout the Veneto, FVG and Piemonte.

Having established the phoney credentials of this wine, as described by the Daily Telegraph’s/Averys copy writers it perhaps comes as no surprise that they should continue to be compounded.

‘Unlike most sparkling wines, the authentic prosecco Frizzante ‘Di Paolo’, from the hills north of Venice…’ This is interesting because we are now told that the wine is not ‘authentic Venetian’ but in fact comes from the ‘hills north of Venice’. However, this appears to be written to persuade people that these are other qualities which also justify its status as ‘authentic’. ‘Unlike other sparkling wines it has only gentle effervescence and moderate alcohol…’. The suggestion here is that these are characteristics unique to ‘Di Paolo’. Firstly, all Prosecco is moderate in alcohol. Second, the ‘gentle effervescence’ (in other words ‘frizzante’) whilst widespread in Italy generally denotes a wine which is inferior in quality, and cheaper, to ’spumante’. Wines which are ‘frizzante’ in style may have less alcohol in them and less pressure in the bottle from the gas in the wine. Good quality ‘Prosecco’ is invariably ’spumante’.

The quote from a wine critic used in the advertisement “Deliciously fruity, crisp, off-dry and light… one of the world’s most voguish wines” actually comes from an article the critic wrote on his website about the true heart of prosecco which is the area of Conegliano-Valdobbiadene, now an area designated DOCG under Italian wine legislation and which the Italian Agriculture minister recently described as the “historical areas of wine production”. It has little to do with the wine advertised in the offer.

From August 1, the use of the word Prosecco on a label is more controlled. ‘di Paolo’ may no longer be able to label this type of wine ‘Prosecco’ should he decide to make it next year. So much for its ‘authenticity’.

Since there are no examples of this wine being sold anywhere else in the UK there is no way of knowing if the price is a genuine reduction or not. It is simply listed on the Daily Telegraph website at the higher value.

The artwork of the advertisement also struck me after a while. Why not show the whole bottle and cut off the photograph at the neck? Well, there is one possible explanation. Perhaps it does not carry the kind of foil over a stopper some might expect from a Prosecco - wines which are ‘frizzante’ often don’t. Some people will undoubtedly be disappointed if this is true. The position of the glass over the bottle is no simple idle montage. Good quality Prosecco has a special bottle shape. This photograph thus seeks to disguise the shape of their own wine bottle.

Prosecco comes in a variety of styles - brut, extra dry and so forth. Nothing in this advertisement declares the wine’s style - an important factor.

Judge for yourself the merit of this offer.

For all one knows the wine may be quite excellent… but it seems doubtful. Only the offer price seems to be of importance: the cost of this wine is mentioned no less than 5 times.

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