While I generally avoid doing writing projects “on spec,” I discovered last week the joy of
eating Asiago on Speck. Sorry, I couldn't resist the bi-lingual pun. The recent Vino in Villa
show in New York at the Time Warner Center featured several dozen purveyors of Prosecco,
a simple and often delightful sparking wine from Italy's Veneto region, but the show's
promoters had also set up a strategically located table offering Speck Alto Adige IGP and
Asiago DOP. Wine tasting is hungry work, and though my nose may not be making waves in
the wine sense, it is fairly adept at sniffing out tasty eats.
Speck Alto Adige looks like Prosciutto but unlike that delicacy it is lightly smoked. The meat
is sweet, seductive and smoky soft. The IGP designation that applies to the Speck is short for
Indicazione Geografica Protetta or Protected Geographical Indication, a designation
assigned by the European Union. The ripened Asagio cheese is easy to eat and yet gives
complex notes: dried fruit and sweet butter. We wine people tend to think of defined
appellations in a vinous context, but the food world has them also. The European Community
DOP seal indicates Denominazione di Origine Protetta, or Protected Designation of
Origin. The San Marzano tomatoes I adore qualify, as does the Traditional Balsamic Vinegar
of Modena, yet among the hundreds of European cheeses only 30 or so make the DOP grade:
Gorgonzola, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Roquefort, Stilton, and Fontina give the Asiago some
quality companionship. The Speck and Asiago people maintain an informational web site at
http://speckaltoadigeigp-asiagodop.com.
But on to the wine. You can buy a still Prosecco if you look carefully for it, but by and large
Prosecco means bubbly, relatively simple, non-meditative bubbly at that, the kind of wine you
enjoy for any occasion (the fact that today may be Tuesday is enough of an excuse).
Prosecco is a white grape variety; the wine by the same name is produced from either 100%
Prosecco or a minimum of 85% Prosecco with helper varieties like Verdiso, Perera, and
Bianchetta.
Prosecco di Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOC is a stretch of the Veneto between those two
multi-syllabic towns some 30 miles north of Venice, and due north of Treviso. This is a cool
climate region. The base wines are first fermented dry, then either left that way (only 5% of
production) or carbonated using the bulk Charmat process into frizzante (semi-sparkling) or
spumante (fully-sparkling) versions. Prosecco is not meant to be aged; the wine can be
marketed a bare month after bottling, and the idea is to drink it now. As with Champagne,
“brut” is the dry wine, “extra-dry” is actually sweeter.
I tasted (but refrained from pronouncing) the $18 Cantine Maschio dei Cavalieri Prosecco di Valdobbiadene, a brut
frizzante produced from 100% Prosecco, light and playful bubbles, a pale straw with forward
acidity, warm fruit notes, peaches and pears (they so often come together), bready notes and
gentle apricots. The wine has a luxurious edge, medium body, and some minerality to it, but
retains the playfulness Prosecco demands. The gossamer frizzante bubbles tickle the nose as
the aromatics stimulate it. Well made.
The $17 Zardetto Prosecco Zeta is 100% Conegliano Prosecco, hand harvested, the product of
a single vineyard in S. Pietro di Feletto. Prosecco yields can be prodigious (with concomitant
poor quality), but this producer keeps its yields down, resulting in a classic dry spumante that
gives balanced notes of fruit (that white peach again) and spice (vanilla), with white floral
elements, a tinge of almond and a background of tropical fruit (pineapple). The acidity works,
complementing the fruit and the enthusiastic bubbles. I really enjoyed this one. The wine's
web site, www.bubbly.it, will introduce
you to the cartoon forest gnome Mr. Bubbly, all in keeping with the spirit of Prosecco
fun.
I tasted the $26 brut (Ruio) spumante from producer Malibràn (about $25), a small family operation that produces some
50,000 cases of Valdobbiadene DOC Prosecco annually. The Favrel family's operation is
one that has become perhaps typical in Italy and other parts of southern Europe, a mix of
solid tradition with a new winery and a good deal of modern equipment. Both these wines
had complex aromatics, based on the fruit itself, melon and tree-fruit with floral overtones,
very pure in effect, with acidity that worked without challenging its place in the hierarchy.
This full-bodied and very well balanced wine satisfies with a nice, long finish.
The sub-$10 Mionetto Prosecco Brut is quite a value, with honey, peach, green apple and
citrus notes leading to a truly crisp refreshing finish. The straw colored wine is decidedly dry
and is sealed with a crown cap, yes, the same as our old-fashioned bottle cap. The $19
Mionetto Sergio Extra Dry is sealed with a conventional cork and uses all four of the
region's distinctive grape varieties: Verdiso, Perera, and Bianchetta with 70% Prosecco di
Valdobbiadene. This is a wine with plenty of fruit. Mionetto USA is presently sponsoring a cocktail contest, offering a
$5,000 prize to the producer of the most creative cocktail using their Prosecco, deadline end
of 2008.
Entrants to Mionetto's Mixology Cocktail Contest would certainly be wise to avoid the
Bellini if they want to claim originality, since this Prosecco-based cocktail is long established.
The classic Bellini—five parts fresh white peach pureé and one part Prosecco—was created in
the iconic Harry's Bar in Venice in 1948. Prosecco often gives peachy notes, so the
combination really works. You are best advised to merrily down the drink, however, rather
than meditate on it. Prosecco is happy stuff.
