PROSECCO ROSÉ: NOW IT’S GETTING SERIOUS

Maybe you’ve heard people ask about it in wine bars, maybe you’ve thought about wanting to try it. Maybe you tried something like it and weren’t fully satisfied. Something about it wasn’t for you. Maybe the bottle labels you’ve seen in restaurants or markets haven’t really pulled you in. You were right to doubt, actually, because rosé prosecco never really existed- until now. It’s finally been approved to make official Prosecco in rosé format!

There’s been a ton of misinformation about rosé Prosecco. There have been many hooligans that have tried to use the name of this particular sparkling wine to sell other products that have absolutely nothing to do with real Prosecco.

“So then what actually is Prosecco?“

DOC-approved Prosecco is a wine that can only be produced in certain parts of the Veneto/Friuli-Venezia Giulia province of Italy. It can be a little confusing, but one can run into trouble by assuming any sparkling wine can be Prosecco.

Sparkling wine can be produced anywhere, but Prosecco is only sparkling wine that’s obtained from a certain region, following certain guidelines.

Here’s an analogy: prosciutto ham from San Daniele comes from a certain region of Fruili, Italy. We don’t go around calling all prosciutto “San Daniele” because of that.

“Are we talking about prosciutto or wine?”

Rosé Prosecco is quite rare, especially in American markets. Even to this day, they don’t have any of the real stuff on the shelves.

Protections of Italian titles abroad are tough to implement, and it can be even tougher to come to an international agreement on the topic. In Australia, you can find yourself drinking “Prosecco,” that actually isn’t real Prosecco at all. Unfortunately, this happens! The name of Prosecco attracts buyers, and there’s always the occasional sneak who exploits the name to profit a little more.

The world of wine is complex. The idea is that, pretty often, we feel the tendency to call every sparkling wine “Prosecco,” or even “Champagne”. It’s begun happening with rosés too.

Consequently, the consortium that protects Prosecco has given some thought to exploiting this trend as well. Obviously, this was met with much criticism- the general conensus is that wine shouldn’t follow fleeting human trends, but should remain an identity staple for its region.

True, the world of wine is constantly growing and changing. If it’s possible to help it along by relaxing a rule or two, especially when it comes to rosé, should we not? Especially considering that many in America may believe they’ve already seen rosé Prosecco!