Events

Nino Franco proseccos
July 2005

Primo Franco, owner of the Italian winery Nino Franco, ran a tasting of sparkling proseccos.

Primo represents the third generation of a family winery founded by his grandfather after the Second world war. Primo wanted to be an architect, but being the only male inheritor, had to continue his grandfather’s and father’s business. He graduated from prestigious Cornegliano school of enology in 1967 at the age of 19.

He is fifty-eight now, and Nino Franco is a leading prosecco winery producing about 1 million bottles per year. The company mainly works as a negociant buying grapes from local farmers. The Prosecco zone covers 4,400 hectares, but has 3,700 grape growers with small plots.

Prosecco is a white aromatic variety known from the Roman times. After phylloxera the growers started to pay more attention to the clone selection. Bubbles are the result of the second fermentation in tanks during 30-35 days. The main goal is to preserve freshness and fruitiness of wine.

"For us prosecco is a style of life, then a wine", says Primo Franco. In Venice prosecco is served as a first glass of aperitif. The first glass can be drunk at 10 in the morning. Sometimes in the country prosecco is served with thick steak. Prosecco di Valdobbiadene ’Rustico’ is a blend of grapes from different vineyards. "Classic prosecco in modern style", for which it is important to have clean fruit and flowers without bready or yeasty characters. It’s a creamy wine with rounded bubbles, aroma of yellow apples and fresh, crispy flavours. Total production is 50 thousand cases by 12 bottles.

There is stricter selection of grapes for Prosecco di Valdobbiadene ’Brut’. Brut means that the sugar content is between 10-12 g/l. The aroma is fresh and appley again and there are more minerals in the taste. 15 thousand cases are produced.

Cartizze cu is situated not far from Valdobbiadene and covers 108 hectares. Its dessert wine is traditionally called Prosecco di Cartizze or simply Cartizze. Traditionally it is served in the end of celebration. In the country they also have it with local salami called sopressa. As port has a sweetish taste, the match is ideal. The wine features intense aromas of sweet apples and pears, fresh taste and persistent, elegant finish.