The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #148225 Message #3445705
Posted By: Steve Shaw
02-Dec-12 - 09:47 AM
Thread Name: BS: Champagne Question???
Subject: RE: BS: Champagne Question???
Actually, you could argue that champagne is much more natural than Prosecco. The former is made by a traditional method in which the conditioning is entirely generated in the bottle by adding a carefully-measured amount of sweetness back to the fermented wine in each bottle. The bottle is then gradually inverted to get the sediment to settle above the stopper. The neck is then frozen so that a plug of sediment can be removed, and a new, wired cork inserted. Cava is made in the same way. Prosecco is fermented like other wines in large stainless steel vessels and has the fizz artificially added at the bottling stage. Nothing wrong with that, but it is definitely the modern way, not the most "natural".
I find Prosecco to be a milder drink that either Cava or champagne, with more emphasis on orchard fruit flavours and less on lively acidity. The quality is nearly always good, even at the bargain basement end. I do like those you mention, though.