Prosecco” is a stand-in for a cold, crisp, sparkling white wine that should be pretty cheap. There’s nothing wrong with that desire, but there is such a large range of wines bearing the Prosecco DOC and DOCG that they are worthy of as much understanding and differentiation as any other style of wine. The Gregoletto family, who makes this Prosecco, has been tending vines in the hills of Premaor di Miane, near Valdobbiadene, since around 1600. Today, the family farms vineyards in Premaor, Miane, Refrontolo, and Rua di Feletto, all of which are communes in the DOCG Conegliano-Valdobbiadene, a small subzone of the much larger Prosecco DOC. Luigi Gregoletto and his family can’t, however, label their overachieving Prosecco with “DOCG”—the highest classification, generally reserved for sloped vineyards at higher elevation—because they seal their
bottles with a crown cap instead of a cork. Nevertheless, they’ve married their excellent, hillside terroirs with painstaking, classic sui lieviti or col fondo vinification practices, whereby they ferment this wine in stainless-steel tanks, bottle it with a little grape must, and allow it to undergo a secondary fermentation in the bottle without disgorging the wine. Even though this technique is traditional, the difficulty of simultaneously following it and making excellent wine means it is avoided by most Prosecco producers today! Gregoletto’s result is a crisp, vibrant, fully dry sparkling wine with notes of fresh apples, lime, and stones. The complexity will remind you more of the better Champagnes you have tasted than of most Prosecco.