Italian rival that’s taking sparkle out of champers
IT looks like special occasions could be losing a bit of their fizz.
Supermarkets are reporting a boom in demand for frizzante, a ‘semi-sparkling’ wine that is not as effervescent as the leading brands or champagne.
Marks & Spencer has recorded a 62 per cent rise in sales, with its most popular brand, Vino da Tavola Frizzante Rose, up nearly 80 per cent from last year.
Tesco added a Prosecco frizzante to its wine offering last October and said it had proved popular with customers.
Selfridges also stock frizzante, which it describes as an ‘easydrinking party wine’.
Frizzante wines – from the Italian word frizzare, meaning to sparkle – have small bubbles that help mask the wine’s natuspecial ral sweetness. Full sparkling wines are made using a double fermentation process but frizzante involves a partial second fermentation.
Those who find Champagne too fizzy may well choose frizzante as an alternative for weddings, celebrations and other occasions. It also tends to have a lower alcohol content.
M&S wine buyer Emma Dawson said: ‘We offer a selection of delicately sparkling, easydrinking frizzante that are increasingly popular with customers. Its light style makes it a perfect choice for those looking for a lower alcohol wine and it’s great with food – try pairing with mezze or antipasti on a summer’s day.’
Frizzante can come from a variety of wine-making regions but its rise in popularity appears to be driven by the boom in Prosecco from north-east Italy.
The UK Prosecco market was valued at more than £330million last year – up 72 per cent on the previous year – and is said to be still growing. In a survey, nearly half of drinkers would choose it over Champagne on price grounds, but 40 per cent said it was an everyday indulgence.