It’s
light, easy-to-drink, refreshing, usually slightly sweet, affordable and
food-friendly. Its bubbles make it
festive. It’s even fun to say! (Pro-SAY-ko).
It’s
what’s for Thanksgiving!
I’ve
written here before about the futility of spending a lot of money on fancy wine
for Thanksgiving. The holiday is NOT
about the wine. It’s about family and
traditions and lots and lots of food. No
one is going to be paying a lot of attention to the wine, so why spend a lot of
time and money worrying about it?
However,
if you’re at all like me, you DO want to make sure that the wine isn’t noticed
because it’s really terrible! So you
must give it SOME thought. Fortunately,
I’m here with some advice. And this year’s
recommendation is to pick up a bottle or two (depending upon the size of your
table and anticipated number of guests) of Prosecco.
Prosecco
is a sparkling wine from the northeastern part of Italy.
Like Champagne (perhaps the most famous
sparkling wine), Prosecco has bubbles.
Unlike Champagne, Prosecco is made in a very affordable manner.
To
create the bubbles in a sparkler, the winemaker puts the wine through a second
fermentation (usually by adding some sugar and yeast under pressure. As the yeast consumes the sugar and turns it
into alcohol, the major by-product is carbon dioxide. By keeping the wine in a closed container
under pressure (in a bottle for Champagne; in a large, glass or stainless steel
vat for Prosecco), the winemaker forces the carbon dioxide to dissolve in the
wine. Once the wine is served, the
bubbles are gradually released, giving us the sparkle we’ve come to associate
with celebrations.
Though
the idea (dissolved carbon dioxide) is generally the same in Champagne and
Prosecco, many of the production details are quite different. These details mean that Champagne is
considerably more expensive. It’s also a considerably more serious
wine. The bubbles are finer. The flavors are more complex. The bubbles last longer. The wine can often improve with age. In contrast, Prosecco bubbles are bigger and
dissipate faster. The wine should be
drunk young lest it lose its freshness and simply taste flat and dull. And although Prosecco is quite tasty, no wine
expert would call it “complex.”
But
Prosecco has one major advantage over Champagne – its price tag. While a good quality Champagne will set you
back approximately $35-$50, a good Prosecco will cost you only about $15.
Both
Champagne and Prosecco are good food wines.
That is, they can be served with a wide variety of foods. This is different from many types of wines,
particularly the bold reds, which are food-sensitive and when improperly
paired, can leave you with a mouthful of bad-tasting wine or bad-tasting food. Avoiding this clash of tastes is especially
important. After all, what other meal
tries to meld so many different flavors?
Thus, I’m a big fan of Champagne or Prosecco for this holiday; however,
given the price difference, I’m going with Prosecco this year!
So,
with that in mind, here are a few good choices (in alphabetical order) that I
recommend for your Thanksgiving dinner.
While not all are available locally, some are, and all can be found in
Central Oregon.
La
Marca Extra Dry Prosecco (about $13).
With fruity melon and citrus aromas and flavors, this is an
easy-drinking wine.
Mionetto
Prosecco (about $15). This wine is also
quite fruity, with melon and apple flavors and aromas.
Nino
Franco Rustico Prosecco (about $15). Not
quite as fruity as most Prosecco, this wine still has citrus and apple
notes. As far as Proseccos go, this is
perhaps the most serious of them.
Zardetto
Prosecco (about $15). This Prosecco is
not only fruity; it also has floral and spice aromas and flavors. It would be a good choice with your pumpkin
pie dessert.
If
you can’t find one of these Proseccos, don’t despair. Pick up any Prosecco you can find. It will likely be very enjoyable with your
Thanksgiving dinner. But even if it’s
not, don’t worry – no one but you is probably paying attention to the wine,
anyway!
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