Winemaker Notes
Scents of ripe fruit, aromatic herbs, sage; intense mineral and flint notes. In the mouth, dry but creamy. Persistent, with a touch of toasted almond.
Goes very well with ham, shellfish, fish and chips, shrimp and vegetable tempura.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Here’s a sparkling wine that shows some real complexity. Cherry-blossom and white-peach undertones are married to white pepper and nutmeg. Textured and phenolic on the palate, where the flavors of lemons and tangerines give way to fine bubbles and some pastry undertones.
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Wine Enthusiast
White spring flowers, Alpine herbs and orange zest mingle with a whiff of bread crust on this crisp sparkler. The linear, racy palate offers yellow apple, pear, Meyer lemon and thyme alongside firm acidity.
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Wine Spectator
A pretty, aromatic version, with a floral overtone and notes of honey and dried apricot riding the fine, creamy mousse. Elegant, lightly juicy and balanced.
Representing the topmost expression of a Champagne house, a vintage Champagne is one made from the produce of a single, superior harvest year. Vintage Champagnes account for a mere 5% of total Champagne production and are produced about three times in a decade. Champagne is typically made as a blend of multiple years in order to preserve the house style; these will have non-vintage, or simply, NV on the label. The term, "vintage," as it applies to all wine, simply means a single harvest year.
One of the world’s most popular and playful sparkling wines, Prosecco is a specialty of northeastern Italy, spanning nine provinces of the Veneto and Fruili-Venezia Giulia regions. A higher-quality version of Prosecco wine that must meet more stringent production requirements is known as Prosecco Superiore and must come from the more rugged terrain between the towns of Valdobiaddene and Conegliano. Prosecco can be produced as a still wine, a semi-sparkling wine (“frizzante”), or a fully sparkling wine (“spumante”)—the latter being the most common. While Prosecco wine is typically produced in a “brut” (dry) style, its fresh and fruity character makes it seem a bit sweeter than it actually is. “Extra dry” styles, incorporating higher levels of residual sugar, are quite popular, however.
Prosecco wine is made from the Glera grape, which was formerly and confusingly called Prosecco, these wines are notable for pleasant flavors of peach, pear, melon, green apple, and honeysuckle. Lower pressure during the carbonation process (also called the tank method) means that the bubbles are lighter and frothier than in Champagne or other traditional method sparkling wine, and less persistent. Prosecco is also a great choice to blend with orange juice for mimosas for a classic brunch beverage.