Glera (Valdobbiadene, Treviso, Italy)

After parking our private cruise ship (everyone should have a private cruise ship) in the port of Venice, Italy, we embarked on a trip to the north and slightly west into the province or Treviso. Crossing the Piave River just to the north of Cornuda, we arrived in the small town of Valdobbiadene. We're here today to drink wine that is 100% Glera. And, upon hearing that, your initial reaction is likely why do I care about Glera? Yet, Glera, much to the surprise of many, is one of the most popular wine grapes in the world today.

First, though, where are we and why? Technically, while Valdobbiadene is really 15 little communities, at the same time, it's not really more than one from a wine standpoint. Some of these communities are nothing more than a wine producing family or two and ultimately, they are all in the same game.

The drive here seemed easy until it was not. Initially, just a pleasant winding drive through southern Treviso with a gently rolling terrain and a landscape of farmland dotted with an occasional majestic castle. But, as we cross the Piave, the terrain changes to steeply sloped hills bordering on large mountains just barely to the north. This is where they grow the world's finest Glera.

When we say steeply sloped hills, we are not messing around. In Cartizze, a 107 hectare (265 acre) area in which there are roughly 100 producers of Prosecco, the southern facing slopes are on a grade that often exceeds 70%!! There is no machine picking there. The land must be handled quite carefully and every last grape is picked by hand by skilled vineyard workers.

Glera is a white grape thought to have arrived from Slovenia, perhaps in the town of Prosek. Such is likely the origin of the wine we are drinking today that the world knows as Prosecco, a Brut (dryest), Extra Dry (a bit sweet), or Dry (pretty darn sweet) wine that is made as one of Spumante (sparkling), Frizzante (semi-sparkling) or Tranquillo (still). 

About 10 years ago, the area was awarded the designation Denominazione di Origine Controllata Garantita (DOCG), the highest designation in Italian wine, as Prosecco. Why not Valdovviadene? You tell me which one is easier to say, and for that matter spell.

Here, they make their Prosecco using a method known as Conegliano Valdobbiadene. While the first fermentation takes place very similarly to what is done in Champagne, the second fermentation -- the one that produces the fizz -- takes place in pressurized stainless steel vats. It's what makes the Prosecco of Valdobbiadene special.

And, as you might imagine, within Valdobbiadene, the most special of all Prosecco are those made from the Glera on the steepest of hillsides. As a consumer, you can identify them by their labeling -- Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Rive DOCG.



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