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We don’t know about you, but our rose-coloured glasses seem a bit broken right now. But things could be looking up. The long-anticipated rosé prosecco finally went into official production in Italy, and it’s soon set to be arriving on our shores ready to tickle drinkers pink.
In May, the new style of wine was finally approved by Italian authorities. Thought you’d been drinking pink prosecco before? You may well have been necking sparkling rosé and even sparkling rosé from Italy. But in order for it to bear the ‘prosecco’ badge of honour, the wine needs to be from the northern Italian region of Veneto, should be made from glera gapes and should get its fizz from tank fermentation (unlike champagne, which ferments in the bottle).
As for rosé prosecco, the new rules state the wine should include 10 to 15 percent pinot nero grapes (as well as those signature glera ones) and should undergo a 60-day minimum period of tank fermentation. The result should be a dry, pink bevvy with a ‘persistent foam’, according to the Prosecco DOC Consortium. The official body is estimating production of 30 million bottles per year. Result!
So when can we expect the pink drink to pass our lips? Harvest time typically falls between September and October. Coupled with that fermentation period, we aren’t expecting the fizz to make it across to the UK until the new year.
But to coincide with National Prosecco Day (which, in case you didn’t know, is today, Thursday August 13), Asda has announced that it will have the bubbly stuff on its shelves in time for Christmas.
The UK supermarket is being a bit coy about when you’ll be able to snap it up, but it predicts to be selling its 75cl Filippo prosecco rosé bottles ‘in the coming months’ and has confirmed that it will be launched before the year is out. See, 2020 isn’t a complete write-off yet.
The news follows stats shared yesterday by rival supermarket Sainsbury’s showing year-on-year sales of premium rosé were up by 60 percent, proving the UK had a rosé thirst on while in lockdown. Add to that a well-established love of Italy’s foremost sparkling wine and Asda’s online shop might just break the internet when stocks are finally released. Bring it on.
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