Meet the Proseccos you’ll be drinking this summer
Marry a couple of crowd-pleasers, and the result is a new wine that has success written all over it. Prosecco rosé, which was approved by the Italian government as an official wine category last year, has started arriving in American shops. It’s celebratory, easy-drinking, food-friendly and modestly priced enough to make it the evening’s pour.
More than half the nearly 350 Prosecco producers in Italy have been playing around with a rosé version for years, unofficially, and its arrival in America comes at a good time. The thirst for rosé wines continues to climb in doubledigit percentages, in terms of both volume and value. In the first half of 2020, the United States was the leading Prosecco export market worldwide, accounting for about 24%, with sales totaling around $150 million. Prosecco rosé might not excite wine snobs, but they’re not the drinkers that drive a mass market.
Though 28 Prosecco rosé producers are exporting it to the United States, according to the Prosecco DOC Consortium, a trade organization that helped win the new designation, as of January only a few of the wines are stocked in U.S. shops. Another 19 brands are expected to arrive by the end of the year. Bottles are priced from about $12 to $22.
Unlike many Proseccos, which tend to have more similarities than differences in color, bouquet, flavor and fizz, the new rosés cover a broad spectrum; there are choices to be made. Take color: It can be the palest blush, in the trendy Provençal style, as exhibited by Mionetto and Bisol 1542 Jeio. Others, like Gancia, show a deeper magenta-pink. The bouquets tend to be floral — Gancia’s, which also hints of raspberries, was the most assertive of my samples.
The flavor depends on the sweetness, which according to the regulations can range from brut zero, with no residual sugar, to extra dry, with some sweetness.
Most Proseccos produced in Italy are the sweet style labeled (confusingly) extra dry, as are about half of those coming into the U.S. market. Among them is Gancia’s wine, the mellowest of the five I sampled. It’s the one to pour with chocolate cake. The Mionetto, also extra dry, was balanced, with subtler sweetness and a nice touch of fruit, making it fine with an array of foods.
Josh — made by Sacchetto in Italy in collaboration with Josh Cellars, a California wine company, and Villa Pozzi wines of Sicily — was a subtle extra dry with a whisper of tropical fruit. La Marca, another extra dry, was the most full-bodied of my samples, a good choice to serve throughout a dinner. The Bisol 1542 Jeio, a brut, had bright, classy elegance, for a refreshing aperitif.
Prosecco rosé might prove to be a marketing dream, but it’s not a gimmick. Like standard Prosecco, the wines must follow strict rules set by the Italian government.
Prosecco’s regulations have been in place since 2009, when it received the DOC, or Denominazione di Origine Controllata, status. The wine has to come from a geographic region that partly encircles Venice like a tiara, to the west, north and east.
The grapes in the rosé blend must be a minimum 85% glera, the same as in regular Prosecco, with the addition of up to 15% pinot nero (pinot noir) wine, the juice of which is white. Even regular Prosecco DOC is allowed to be 15% red vinifera, which is also the primary red grape used in many Champagne cuvées, including most that are not rosé.
Nonsparkling rosé wines are usually made from red grapes, with the amount of skin contact controlling the color — not by adding some red wine to the white. But pink sparklers, most notably Champagnes, frequently get their color by blending in some red wine, the way Prosecco rosé is made.
Prosecco rosé is expected to account for 10% of the half-million bottles of Prosecco produced this year. Come summer it may be the fizz of choice.
Livermore blogger Michelle Smith of The Whole Smiths may lead a cleaneating lifestyle now, but her SoCal college days — er, late nights — were filled with deep-fried taco runs to Jack in the Box.
Today, they’ve inspired her healthy-ish version made with avocado oil, organic cheese and grassfed ground beef. The recipe, featured in Smith’s new cookbook, “The Whole Smiths Real Food Every Day” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), is easy enough that her 10-year-old can make it.
Deep-fried tacos can be healthy? “If you saw the ingredient list of the original tacos, you’d understand how much better these are for you,” Smith says.
Don’t forget the hot sauce. She says a clean, red pepper hot sauce, like Trader Joe’s Jalapeno Pepper Hot Sauce, most closely resembles the flavor of her taco muse.
2 a.m. Tacos
Makes 12 tacos
From Michelle Smith’s “The Whole Smiths Real Food Every Day” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.)
Ingredients
N cup plus 1 teaspoon avocado
oil, divided use
1 pound ground beef
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon chile powder 2 teaspoons onion granules 1 teaspoon garlic powder
K teaspoon ground cumin
N teaspoon cayenne pepper
O cup refried beans
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice 6 slices American cheese, sliced
in half diagonally
12 corn tortillas
1K cups shredded iceberg
lettuce
Hot sauce of your choice
Directions
In a large skillet over medium heat, heat 1 teaspoon avocado oil. When the oil is hot, add the ground beef, salt, chile powder, onion granules, garlic powder, cumin and cayenne. Cook, using a spatula to break up the ground beef, until the beef is cooked through and lightly browned, 7 to 8 minutes. Add the refried beans and lime juice and stir to combine.
Transfer the beef mixture to a blender and blend for 10 to 20 seconds, until it is a uniform consistency —what I like to call “meat paste.”
To assemble each taco, lay a triangle of American cheese on one half of a tortilla. Spread 2 tablespoons of the meat filling over the top of the cheese, being careful not to spread the meat all the way to the edge.
Repeat with the remaining tortillas, cheese and meat filling.
Line a plate with a few layers of paper towels and place it near the stovetop.
Pour the remaining N cup avocado oil into a small skillet and heat over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, place a tortilla flat in the pan and let it sit for 15 to 20 seconds, until the tortilla becomes pliable. Fold the empty side of the tortilla over the top to create the “taco shape.” Cook the taco for 10 seconds more, then flip it and cook the other side for 20 to 30 seconds, until the shell has crisped up and is lightly browned. Immediately transfer the taco to the paper towellined plate to drain.
Gently open the taco and fill it with 2 tablespoons of the shredded lettuce and hot sauce to taste. Repeat with the remaining tacos. Serve hot.