The Italian government approved the production of Prosecco rosé sparkling wine in May of this year, and now the major wineries are in full swing to prepare for the Christmas season.
Image courtesy of: Italian Wine Channel
Giancarlo Moretti Polegato, president of Villa Sandi, said the company has harvested and stocked its Glera and Pinot Nero grapes and hopes to have its Prosecco rosé sparkling wine on the market by Christmas.
Beauregateau has been a die-hard Prosecco rosé sparkler and has been lobbying around since 2009 to open the green light for Prosecco rosé sparkling wine, but he said no other producer was with me at the time.
All the great sparkling wine regions of the world have rosé wines, and we should have rosé wines too. Our customers have been waiting for this kind of product as well. So, for me personally, this is an important moment.
The winery will start making this new Prosecco DOC sparkling wine on August 1, which requires a minimum of 60 days of fermentation.
If everything goes according to plan, the sparkling wines will actually start selling in Italy around October 1. However, the European market will have to wait until November 1 in order for the new regulations to be accepted and implemented by the EU.
The demand for more expensive Italian sparkling wines is growing. According to its conservancy, exports of Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG wines to the UK doubled in 2019.
And rosé sparkling wine may further drive this trend.
Image courtesy of: Italian Wine Channel
In the 12 months ending August 8, 2019, Champagne sales in the UK hospitality sector fell -4.4% as diners opted for relatively cheaper sparkling wines like Prosecco, but total sales of rosé Champagne actually increased by 0.5%.
Consumers are now keen to buy rosé, and offering them a more affordable option may help Prosecco maintain its position as the market leader in sparkling wine.
Despite delays in reaching the rest of Europe (and more importantly the UK), Beauregateau believes that Prosecco rosé sparkling wine could increase sales at his winery by up to 15%, and as a result, this represents a significant portion of the market.
Prosecco rosé sparkling wine will undoubtedly represent an opportunity, especially in these delicate times. It will make it possible to win new customers and gain new shares with distributors around the world. This is a new product, for which our customers have been waiting for quite some time.
He even believes that this will broaden the diversity of Prosecco sparkling wine as a wine pairing and create more opportunities for restaurant partnerships.
Prosecco pairs well with every type of cuisine from around the world. But it usually goes well with seafood and white meat dishes. The new Prosecco DOC rosé sparkling wine can also be paired with steak, and Prosecco will become even more versatile. The rosé sparkling wine will certainly expand the selection of dishes that can be paired with it.
One of the original producers of Prosecco rosé sparkling wine was Bosco Viticultori, which initially planned to release its first bottle of rosé in January of this year.
We use the 2019 grape harvest to make Prosecco rosé sparkling wine, which was bottled in December. It is indeed a temptation to have the wine ready in time for Christmas, but it is better to take more time to build a more quality product than to rush it to market.
Although the process has experienced many delays, Bosco Viticultori will now be able to take advantage of the 2020 holiday season.
