The Sparkle of Bollicine

Eataly Magazine (December 29, 2017)
Any celebration can be improved by a toast. Discover Italy’s variety of bollicine – “bubbles” – and add a sparkle to the festivities. Whether red, white, or rosé, brightly spumante (sparkling) or lightly frizzante (semi-sparkling), Italy’s effervescent vini will make you forget all about France’s Champagne.

Aromatic, floral, and crisp, Prosecco is Italy's number-one produced sparkling wine. Made from Glera grapes, the white wine is named for an eponymous Italian village in the cool northern region of Veneto.

Excellent on its own, Prosecco may also be paired with peach nectar to make festive Bellini cocktails or stirred into Aperol and seltzer and garnished with an orange slice for an Aperol spritz, both excellent aperitivi.

Varietal: Glera

Both white and rosé, Franciacorta wines are Italy’s most prestigious and elegant bubbly. The grapes are grown on the shores of the Iseo Lake in southern Lombardia. The resulting vini tend to be dry and complex with a fine, persistent frizzante quality.

Franciacorta pairs well with a variety of cured and raw meat, fish, and vegetable dishes.

Varietals: Chardonnay, Pinot Bianco, Pinot Nero

Elegant and harmonious with hints of citrus and berry, this full-bodied wine is made with the best Chardonnay and/or Pinot Nero grapes in the northern region Trentino-Alto Adige, located at the base of the Italian Alps.

The bright acidity from the citrus and sweetness from the berry cut through heavier pasta dishes, such as Bucatini Carbonara.

Varietals: Chardonnay, Pinot Nero    

This highly perfumed and sweet wine boasts fruity and floral flavors. It is made from Moscato Bianco grapes in the northwestern region of Piemonte.

Asti is best enjoyed young and served with dessert, especially pastries or fruit tarts.

Varietal: Moscato Bianco

This frizzante red (yes, rosso!) boasts a fruity, sweet-tart balance with distinctive notes of strawberries. The eponymous Brachetto grapes are grown in the foothills of Piemonte.

The light-bodied red wine is ideally served with chocolate and citrus desserts.

Varietal: Brachetto

Another frizzante red wine, Lambrusco is intended to be consumed young. The wine, traditionally dry and aromatic (though there are very sweet varieties out there), is made with grapes of the same name from the Lambrusco territory in Emilia-Romagna, a region in central Italy.

Excellent on its own, Lambrusco pairs well with anything from a platter of its home region’s famed prosciutto and salami as an antipasto to a hearty meat dish as a secondo.

Varietal: Lambrusco

Cin cin – salute!

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