Why everyone’s talking about... Pink prosecco

COULD it be the perfect drink for a sunny day? This is the first summer that pink prosecco has been available, and it’s flying off the shelves. But why did it take so long?

Prosecco is protected under strict EU rules. It has to hail from a corner of north- east Italy near a place called, yep, Prosecco and made from the glera grape, which was also called prosecco until 2009, when it was renamed so the word would apply only to the wine. The protection is so fierce that in 2019 officials even raided supermarkets to confiscate tubes of ‘prosecco-flavoured’ Pringles. But wine rules were relaxed last autumn to allow a spumante rosé prosecco, with ten to 15 per cent pinot noir to give it a rosé hue and fruitier taste.

Why?

Maybe to boost sales. Demand in the UK dipped slightly last year, with many blaming post-Brexit red tape. But that followed a phenomenal boom, from 66 million bottles sold in 2014 to 130 million in 2019. We drink more of it than the Italians and consume a quarter of the world’s output. Fifty million bottles of the rosé are set to be made – and even Kylie Minogue has her own brand. There is already talk of shortages of the red grapes.

But isn’t prosecco slightly naff?

Possibly. Price means that it’s not elitist like champagne – Asda has a bottle for £ 6 – and it’s inspired countless cheesy ‘prosecco o’clock’-type slogans.

So what’s the history?

Ancient Roman writer Pliny mentioned it, claiming it helped longevity, and English travel writer Fynes Moryson first used the name ‘Prosecho’ in 1593. But that version wouldn’t have been fizzy, as the second fermentation that provides the bubbles wasn’t introduced until the 19th Century. Because of its popularity, prosecco became the most counterfeited wine in the world. Another downside: every bottle erodes up to 10 lb

of earth from Italian hillsides.

That’s staggering…

As might you be after you’ve had a glass or two. Nor would you be likely to pronounce the name of l eading brand Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore, whose snobby producers refuse to make the pink version.