The long road of Prosecco Superiore DOCG: from the vineyard to the glass. Part Two.

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In the previous article we saw how we get from the freshly harvested grapes to the must, Prosecco Superiore DOCG in its rawest state. As you may remember, the whole process takes place in a few minutes. These are a few crucial minutes that, if badly managed, can permanently compromise the quality of the wine.

But there is a fundamental rule to always keep in mind. To create a good wine, be it red, white, still or sparkling, there is only ever one decisive question – the basic quality of the raw material. If this is not there, if the grapes are not healthy, if the vineyard has not been worked correctly during the year, there is no well-known winemaker or cellar techniques that can make up for it.

First filtration and first fermentation

The must, obtained from the soft pressing and rich in impurities, is subjected to a first filtration by introducing nitrogen into the tank. Nitrogen is an inert gas that does not affect the substance of the wine in any way, and serves to separate the lees from the must. The lees rise upwards to form a thick layer of residue, (a cap, as they say in the jargon), which will then be removed.

Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore, like all wines of the type, is characterized by a double fermentation. The first fermentation of the purified must takes place now. This phase lasts about ten days, always at a controlled temperature. The use of selected yeasts inserted into the tank allows the wine to carry out its first important evolution in a correct way. Without these technical precautions, the wine would be unpredictable, difficult to manage and, above all, the aromatic component would be inevitably compromised.

The creation of the base

Although having been separated from the coarser lees, the wine is further filtered, (clarified), to become the basis of the future Prosecco Superiore. Since more sparkling wines are made during the year and therefore more bottlings, the base wine can stay in these tanks from September to the following December.

This is possible because the wine, being always kept at a constant temperature, is no longer “working”; it is still. Since not all the bases evolve in the same way, it will be the oenologist who periodically checks the tanks, with specific tests, from September onwards. Depending on the results the oenologist will decide which base to use for sparkling wine.

The second filtration takes about 3 days. During this time a mixture is prepared with selected yeasts, wine and sugar, the purpose of which is to "help" activate the yeasts reaching the autoclave where the second fermentation will take place. The compound is of vital importance because without sugar the yeasts could not release carbon dioxide. And without carbon dioxide we could not have bubbles.

The Difference between Cuvée and Cru

Despite the cultivation entirely of Glera and being situated in the DOCG area, each vineyard differs from the others with regard to soil morphology, sun exposure, slope of the land and territorial location. To maximize the richness of the single terroir (which we will sense in the wine), all the bases from a given vineyard are vinified separately.

The different bases, carefully selected by the oenologist, are then assembled and made sparkling in a single autoclave. The famous “cuvée” is none other than this: different bases blended together to create a single wine. This is why sometimes you can see differences between bottles of the same product coming from the same cellar; each cuvée, within certain limits, tells its own story.

However, when the grapes come from a single particularly valuable vineyard, (the famous cru, which we already talked about last time), the relative base will be sparkling in purity; i.e. without addition of bases from outside that particular terroir. In addition to Cartizze, the other crus for Conegliano Valdobbiadene are the so-called “Rive” that you can find on our shop online.

A second coclusion

Bottling and, above all, the pleasure of tasting have not yet been explored; these will be covered in our next article. However, we can already draw a first fundamental conclusion: in the creation of a great wine, the passion and professionalism of those who make it are taken for granted. Each phase is one step in a broad and complex process and each, in its own way, is decisive.