Giusti Wine
Prosecco Superiore, with a difference
It’s all well and good to speak about “Prosecco”, but not all Prosecco wine is the same. The production area is vast with marked differences in terms of soil, climate, altitude, distance from the sea and other factors. Which is why our Asolo Prosecco Superiore DOCG Brut is so unique and exquisite… and different. Firstly – what actually is Prosecco? Prosecco, then known as “Pucinum” was known as far back as the Ancient Romans. Prosecco today, however, is both the name of the wine and the commonly-used name of the grape variety more officially known as “glera”. This Charmat method sparkling wine can only be produced in two Italian regions: Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia. Prosecco is therefore a territory, a vine variety and a production method.
Prosecco is protected by a strict quality control system, which is applied to a large DOC wine producing area in the plain stretching over almost 20,000 hectares and three smaller DOCG areas on hillsides covering little more than 8,000 hectares. Giusti Prosecco belongs to one of these three DOCG areas: Asolo.
What is Asolo? Asolo is a beautiful small town at the foot of the Veneto Alps and lends it name to a small but top quality wine producing area.
Then our wine is “Superiore”. This means that our Prosecco comes from a sub-area of the Asolo appellation: Montello, a hilly promontory half way between Venice and Cortina d’Ampezzo encircled by the river Piave. Vines have been cultivated for thousands of years in this area, which has always been subject to environmental control since the woods provided the timber for the fleet of the various Doges of Venice. “Superiore” also means that the vineyards are tended by hand and that grape production is kept deliberately low, reducing the plant’s natural luxuriant growth. Lastly, Brut. Our Prosecco grows on hills that are rich in clay and iron. It offers marked mineral notes and greater durability. Such a wine is naturally “brut”, in other words its sugar content does not exceed 12 grams/litre compared with the 17 of “Extra-Dry” Prosecco. Its unique structure can be sensed immediately in the glass. Giusti Wine is located on the Montello. It comprises 100 hectares of estate of which no fewer than 75 are given over to vineyards, the environment once again being carefully tended as in the days of the Venetian Doges and also of the Benedictine monks, who had an imposing Abbey here and specialised over the centuries in agricultural studies. “I consider it essential that our Brut comes from an unspoiled environment where cultivationis a completely natural activity” – explains Ermenegildo Giusti, owner of the Winery – “and it’s equally important that all our activities are carried out by hand, tending the vine day after day, protecting the natural biodiversity and using non-invasive methods as far as possible. That’s how my grandparents made wine. That’s how my grandchildren will make it”.