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THE DRINKS INDUSTRY has been going through a premiumisation period over the past decade and one of the modern associations with a premium liquid is the absence of added sugar. Premium rums, for example, nearly always advertise the fact that they have not been artificially sweetened, but one category which has no problem fessing up to adding sugar is prosecco, even at the premium end.

Prosecco Denominazione di Origine Controllata, or DOC, is the area within northern Italy where every bottle of prosecco must originate – if not then it is simply labelled ‘Italian sparkling wine’. In 2016 the DOC announced an extension to the limit of hectares within the denomination from 20-23,000 to meet international demand amid fears from producers and farmers of a global shortage.

DOC figures revealed a 50% harvest increase between 2014 and 2015 due to the continued demand from the UK, Switzerland and its biggest export market, Germany.

Burrowing further into the quality structure of prosecco is the Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita, or DOCG. This is generally regarded as the premium hub of prosecco, stretching slightly more than 8,000ha between Conegliano and Valdobbiadene, two towns 40km apart just north of Venice. This region therefore gives birth to Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG, which produced more than 94m bottles in 2017 between 181 different producers.

Within this premium hub of prosecco is the Cartizze hill, 107ha of steep, south-facing vineyards shared between 140 growers. It is considered the birthplace of fine prosecco and sits at the top of prosecco’s quality pyramid. The area earned its glowing reputation through coincidental circumstances. Due to the steep slopes on which the vines were originally grown, local farmers would harvest the grapes much later than the fruits on flat lands. This over-ripping meant the grapes were sweeter than the rest and this led to the creation of naturally sweet prosecco, and later Valdobbiadene Superior di Cartizze DOCG.

With climate change continuing to delay harvest times and upset traditional winemaking, and rising demand putting pressures on consistent production, sugar has become an important ingredient in prosecco. The majority of winemakers, even within the Cartizze region, add sugar to their wines to replicate the natural sweetness originally discovered by chance. Sugar is such a prominent part of prosecco production that there are three different categories devoted to it: Brut – up to 12g/l; Extra Dry – 12-17g/l; and Dry – 17-32g/l.

LESS IS MORE

Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superior DOCG brand Drusian is going in the opposite direction. Francesco Drusian, winemaker at Drusian, likes to keep sugar levels low to preserve the natural flavours in his wine.

Earlier this year at Vinitaly, Drusian released 30 Raccolti, a Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superior DOCG which uses grapes from – you guessed it – the 30 different vineyards under the Drusian name. However, it isn’t just the variety of terroirs involved that is impressive but the 0-1g/l of sugar used in its production.

Being the biggest landlord within the DOCG denomination, with 80ha, means Francesco Drusian can blend grapes from different terroirs to achieve a desired flavour profile without needing to add sugar.

“To have a naturally sweet, but dry prosecco the base wine must be good,” says Drusian. “I like to use grapes from a variety of vineyards because it makes our wine more consistent. We have a variety of vines between 40 and 100 years old, so we can blend different grapes together to get the required results regardless of the weather.”

SINGLE IS SWEET

Contrary to using as many vineyards as possible, Collalto is one of the biggest producers inside the DOCG area and in 2017 the winery launched a new project to focus on single vineyard production.

Collalto enologist Andrea Affili told DI that he believes the highest quality prosecco generally comes from single vineyards, but in response to this Francesco Drusian says: “I wouldn’t like to produce any prosecco using just one vineyard because if the weather is not as good as the previous year then it would be difficult to reproduce the same quality wine. This would then be difficult to communicate and it would be bad for international markets.”

Because it is dealing with just one area, Collalto should be able to control the natural sugar content in its wine because it is logistically more manageable to harvests grapes in one place, when the fruit is at its naturally sweet peak.

Affili adds: “In the future people will drink wines with less sugar and so we will be able to react to this demand when it comes.”

THE CAVE AGE

One other producer doing something different with its sugar levels is Valdo. The Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superior DOCG brand produces Valdo Numero 10, a classic-method brut which is re-fermented for 10 months in the bottle to preserve its sweet flavours. The classic method of prosecco production involves two fermentations, first in the bottle then, in this case, followed by six months’ ageing in a wine cave. This longer process often reduces the amount of additional sugar needed and the grapes involved are harvested in the third week of September when the fruit is at its optimal sweetness.

Valdo has a room dedicated to experimenting with barrel age finishing and a laboratory testing 30,000 samples a year. This search for new styles and flavour profiles will see the continued release of interesting, naturally sweet prosecco rolling out of this winery in the coming years.

There are certainly signs that DOCG prosecco is turning to wines with less sugar, but at the moment it only seems to be limited-edition and top-end varieties. Every individual wine addressed in this feature sits at the €25 price point, more than double a regular DOCG bottle.

Without doubt the category is still heavily in favour of dry and extra dry wines, but this evidence of fine wine-makers thinking less is more in terms of added sugar suggests we will see a change in attitude across the wider category in the coming years, which in the eyes of others will be more premium.