prosecco reviews

Festive fizz!! Here’s nine prosecco picks to enjoy at Christmas

Blimey what did we do for easy-peasy bubbles before prosecco came on the scene?

It now outsells Champagne in the UK and it’s easy to see why – it’s so much cheaper and very, very, easy to drink.

Prosecco DOC wines are made across a wide area of Veneto and Friuli   in the north east of Italy.

Better quality ones  (and you’ll see  a superior rating of DOCG on the bottle)  come from grapes grown on steep hills between the two towns of Valdobbiadene and Conegliano.  Keep an eye out for those names on the label and you’ll know your prosecco will be a cut above.  Then pour and enjoy xx

glass of prosecco fizz


Some prosecco choices for fizzy festive fun

Allini Prosecco Extra Dry (Lidl, £5.29) Add the fizz factor to Christmas without paying champagne prices. This is a highly drinkable alternative packed with bubbles and with a pleasant aftertaste. Fruity with a dry bite, it also works well if you want to serve up some festive cocktails. Christmas in a glass.

Perlezza Prosecco (Spar, £6, down from £9, until January 1) This pretty prosecco has won a couple of awards, including a silver in this year’s International Wine and Spirits competition. Enjoy it as you wrap the presents. Or sit back and enjoy it even more as you watch your other half wrap the pressies.

Mionetto Prosecco DOC Trentino NV (Bargain Booze, £6.99, reduced from £8.99 until Jan 4th) For a penny short of £7 this isn’t bad. There’s plenty of ripe apples and stone fruits and it hits the *phew, relax* spot exactly where it needs to.  We shared as a birthday drink and popped a glug of Chambord in the glass – the result? A naughty but nice pink fizz.

The Co-operative Prosecco 75cl (£6.99 down from £9.99 until January 3) Last Christmas the Co-op sold more prosecco than milk – and sales of their fizz continue to soar (up 70 per cent this year). It’s a good  pop-along fizz which tastes of pears and apples. The flavour doesn’t last a great amount of time in the mouth – but hey this is prosecco;  its not in it for the long haul.

 

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Valdobbiadene Prosecco Spumante DOCG (Aldi, £7.49)  is a frizz-frazz of light bubbles with delicate apples, melon and pears on the nose with a whisper of spring blossom.  It’s a DOCG so its good quality … and while you’re thinking about that it  zings along in the mouth very happily.

Taste the Difference Sainsbury’s Conegliano Prosecco,  (£7.50, for 75cl, saving £2.50 until January 1st; or a magnum is £14.50 to Jan 1st,  saving £4.50). This is one of my favourite proseccos, and it consistently wins awards.  Some prosecco can  taste and feel mass-produced, but this one, while fruity,  is far from flighty,  and has a creamy element.

Premier Estates Prosecco Extra Dry (various retailers, RRP £7.99, £2.99 for a mini bottle) This frisky fizzbomb won a Bronze medal at the International Wine Challenge in 2015.  It’s light, its feminine, it’s flirty and floral.  To taste,  a fresh clean bite of apple and lemon and a bubble of stone fruit too.
(A case of six of the normal size prosecco can be bought on the Premier Estates website for £36 using the discount code SP36)


If you like your Champers, here’s more Christmas fizz ideas

The Society’s Prosecco, (The Wine Society, £9.50) The grapes for this prosecco are grown on a steep slope in vineyards near an abbey in Treviso which belonged to 15th century Dominican monks. Think of those romantic surroundings as you sneak in a moment under the mistletoe. Clink clink with wisps of nectarine and pears and a memory of summertime honeysuckle. It is crisp, zesty, mouthwatering.

Prosecco di Conegliano Valdobbiadene Extra Dry NV DOCG (Majestic, £14.99 each,  or £9.99 Mix Six Price) Well, this is a great all-rounder and ticks all the right fizzy boxes. It’s light enough to enjoy as you chat with your girlie pals; it’s fruity but perfectly dry so you don’t overdose on sweetness; and the bubbles are as excitable as a room of kittens chasing a toy mouse.

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Some of these reviews were first  published in the saturday extra magazine December 5, 2015

Liverpool Echo – South Wales Echo – Daily Post Wales – Huddersfield Examiner – The Chronicle, Newcastle – Teesside Evening Gazette – Birmingham  Mail – Coventry Telegraph – Paisley Daily Express

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