(2022) The Bronca family's Scandolero Costa d'Oro is a Brut wine, that is fresh and floral with pear aromas, a hint of peach too. It is certainly dry, with a touch of bitterness, plenty of lemon and quite an intense feel between the citrus blast of fruit and acidity.
(2018) The high quality Prosecco house of Canevel makes its wines in conjunction with the renowed Masi estate of nearby Valpolicella, this off-dry wine from the hillsides of Valdobbiadene in Prosecco being 100% Glera. Very fine, very racy, a golden delicious ripeness, then the 16gl of sugar and a certain peachiness absorbed into the racy sherbet lemon clarity of the fruit and acidity. A balanced, dry impression on the finish despite the sweetness of the sugar being quite obvious.
(2018) Distinctly off-dry with 23g/l of residual sugar, from the famed Hill of Cartizze where Bisol is the largest vineyard owner. Very pale, the bubbles are are tiny and persistent, aromas ultra-delicate, with white flowers, icing-sugar and candied lemon. In the mouth that sweetness is balanced by a rapier core of acidity, fine, incisive, giving real cut to the sherbetty and light peach fruitiness. A very fine Prosecco in such a different style to a wine like the Case Bianche for example.
(2018) What a fascinating - and really excellent - wine this is. From a single vineyard, it is a vintage wine with zero residual sugar, and therefore bone-dry. This is a family firm, daughters Maria Elena, Elvira, Luisa and Giuliana Bortolomiol carrying on the work of their father Giuliano, the wines made by Roberto Cipresso, one of Italys most highly-regarded oenelogists. The result is a fabulous, pin-sharp and refined Prosecco, where delicate pear and herb aromas are swept up in a rush of lemon and lime, crystalline acidity. A genuine food Prosecco, with terrific finesse and length. No UK stockists at time of writing
(2018) This is a very low dosage 'brut nature' with little more than 2g/l of residual sugar, so very, very dry for a Prosecco. It is fairly neutral on the nose, a little apple and fresh pear, but subdued. On the palate it has a very firm acid backbone, perhaps a little too firm, giving a slightly bitter character that is not quite balanced by fruit intensity - or sugar. Armit Wines imports this producer, but does not appear to list this specific cuvée.
(2018) Another decidely dry 'Brut' from the hills of Valdobbiadene, I found this to be a particularly estery wine, with notes of banana and peach, and zesty lemon. In the mouth very clean, very precise, still a peachy and slightly tropical fruit quality mid-palate, before cleansing sour apple and citrus acidity gives a pleasingly crisp finish. On offer at £14.75 at time of review.
(2018) Only 7,000 bottles were made of this wine from steep, chalky slopes of Cartizze, farmed by the Grotto family for more than 80 years. It is Extra Dry, so with more sugar than a Brut wine, and tastes decidely off-dry after a pear and lemon sherbet nose, delicate hints of white flowers too. The fruit is delightfully sweet, peach-downy and light on the palate, but the core of acidity is very good here, punching through with a pithy citrus dryness to finish.
(2018) This was the stand-out wines of this tasting, not only for its handsome wax-embossed bottle, but for the atyptical intensity of the stuff within. From a single plot (plot #86) of the estate's vineyards lying at 230 metres altitude, there is some skin-contact maceration and a very low 7g/l of residual sugar to make for a more serious style, a frothy mousse revealing white flowers and lemon, yes a touch of icing sugar character, but peaches and salts in a complex picture. In the mouth intense and dry, a charge of electric sour acidity, real mineral saltiness, but softened by the peach down fruit too. So dry, intense yet voluminous, this is the pick of the Prosecco bunch. This vintage is not stocked in the UK at time of review.
(2018) One of the less expensive wines in my premium Prosecco taste-off, and one of my favourites - that was for its sheer zing and zip, with all the Prosecco hallmarks of delicate floral notes and lemon-sherbet freshness and clarity, but with such a surge of flavour and intensity of fruit on the mid-palate, sweetly ripe, yet this is distinctly Brut with 8g/l of residual sugar and a dry, really tangy finish. This is labelled as coming from the slopes of the San Pietro di Barbozza area, and the winery producers various cuvées, like this, from specific terroirs of Prosecco.
(2018) There is a lot to like about this premium Prosecco from Ruggeri, another Brut wine with 9g/l of residual sugar, from selected hillside vineyards. It is intense and has a dry mineral character, clear pear and golden delicious apple fruit, and a perfectly balanced, fresh finish. Somehow it did not absolutely distinguish itself in the way some in this tasting did, but it is a clearly superior Prosecco, and gets a wholesome recommendation from me.
