So, dear old Boris has put his size 10s in it again, upsetting prosecco producers and Italians everywhere with his frank and forthright views about Brexit and the cheaper end of the Italian sparkling wine industry.
Our former editor and current Foreign Secretary seemed to suggest that Italy should back his version of a Brexit deal or face instead the prospect of plummeting sales of prosecco in the UK, one of the largest markets for the fizz if not the largest.
Folk often talk of prosecco as Italy’s champagne. They could not be more wrong. Champagne and prosecco are both sparkling wines, yes, but are made from completely different grape varieties in completely different places by completely different methods.
As Gianluca Bisol – producer of some of the very finest proseccos – once told me: “The two wines are so different. But as there is no question in my mind that champagne is the king of the bubbles, I like to think of Prosecco as the prince.”
Prosecco is made primarily from the Glera grape (formerly known as Prosecco) and the finest examples come from the absurdly steep vineyards that lie in the foothills of the Alps, between the small towns of Valdobbiadene and Conegliano.
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