Discovery / Wines & Blends / Prosecco
Wines & Blends · Follow your curiosity
Prosecco
Glera takes the lead, and the cellar usually captures the sparkle in a pressure tank. Start with the full name on the bottle.
A little acquaintance, at a glance.
- Main grape
- Glera
- Italian origins
- Veneto & Friuli Venezia Giulia
- Usual sparkle
- Martinotti–Charmat tank method
- Look closely
- DOC, DOCG, white or rosé
A wine name and its principal grape
Meet Glera, the grape → Explore its character and northeast Italian places, then return here for the finished wine and its cellar method.
For the Italian protected denominations, Prosecco is the wine name and Glera is the principal grape. This introduction focuses on Prosecco DOC; the more tightly delimited Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG and Asolo Prosecco DOCG have their own rules and identities.
What goes into the bottle?
| Wine | Composition to know |
|---|---|
| White Prosecco DOC | At least 85% Glera. Authorised companions may make up the remainder, or the wine may be entirely Glera. |
| Prosecco DOC Rosé | Glera with 10–15% Pinot Noir, vinified as a red wine, to give the pale pink colour. |
A minimum is not a recipe. Check the particular producer’s technical notes before treating an illustrative percentage as the blend in every bottle.
The pressure tank is part of the story
After pressing and the first fermentation, the base wine for most sparkling Prosecco undergoes another fermentation in a closed pressure tank, or autoclave. This Martinotti–Charmat method retains the carbon dioxide that gives the wine its bubbles. Filtration and bottling take place with care to preserve that sparkle.
Wooden riddling racks would misrepresent this usual route. Riddling belongs to bottle-fermented sparkling production, where sediment must be gathered at the neck. Some specialist Prosecco expressions involve bottle refermentation, so the producer’s method still deserves a look.
Three questions for the label
Where?
Read the whole designation, rather than assuming every Prosecco comes from the same hills or follows identical rules.
How sparkling?
Spumante is fully sparkling; frizzante is gentler. The DOC also permits a still, tranquillo version.
How sweet?
Brut and Extra Dry are sweetness terms. Despite its name, Extra Dry is sweeter than Brut.
A small Cork Dork discovery
Give your curiosity a little room.
Compare a Brut and an Extra Dry Prosecco from the same producer if available. Check grape and designation details, then notice how sweetness changes the impression of fruit and acidity.
Your observations, your words. Small pours welcome.
A few questions worth uncorking.
Is Prosecco always a blend?
No. A white Prosecco can be entirely Glera, while others use authorised companion grapes.
Should Prosecco be illustrated with Champagne riddling racks?
Not for the usual tank-method wine. Bottling and pressure-tank activities tell that cellar story more accurately.
Where shall we wander next?
Compare Champagne →Compare Crémant →Sparkling Wine →Making Bubbles →Bottles & Sizes →Behind this introduction
Editorial sources checked 23 October 2026. Composition, production rules and cellar practices can vary by appellation, producer and vintage. The producer’s notes are the place to check a particular bottle.
Put the wine on the regional map.
Explore Veneto → Find the Prosecco hills alongside Soave and Valpolicella, while remembering that the wider Prosecco DOC also extends into Friuli Venezia Giulia.