Conegliano-Valdobbiadene

Prosecco Superiore DOCG: fresh, floral hill-grown fizz for every aperitivo.

Tank-fermented sparkling Glera from the steep hills: pear, green apple, white flowers and a creamy, lively mousse. Brut and Extra Dry are the classic choices; drink it young and well chilled.

Tank-fermented sparkling Glera from the steep hills: pear, green apple, white flowers and a creamy, lively mousse. Brut and Extra Dry are the classic choices; drink it young and well chilled.

A Rive Brut from a family grower - the everyday star.

Vintage-dated, single-village, hand-picked: noticeably finer than supermarket Prosecco for only a little more.

Vintage-dated, single-village, hand-picked: noticeably finer than supermarket Prosecco for only a little more.

Sopressa with soft polenta + Prosecco Superiore Brut.

The local spicy, fatty salami on creamy polenta. The wine's bubbles and acidity scrub the palate after every rich bite.

The local spicy, fatty salami on creamy polenta. The wine's bubbles and acidity scrub the palate after every rich bite.

Pumpkin gnocchi with smoked ricotta + a gently sweet Cartizze.

A local autumn dish of sweet pumpkin dumplings and salty smoked cheese. Cartizze's soft sweetness and ripe fruit echo the pumpkin.

A local autumn dish of sweet pumpkin dumplings and salty smoked cheese. Cartizze's soft sweetness and ripe fruit echo the pumpkin.

Col fondo: 'with the bottom' - Prosecco left on its yeast sediment.

The traditional farmhouse style, re-fermented in bottle and never disgorged, so it's cloudy and dry. Officially labelled Sui Lieviti.

The traditional farmhouse style, re-fermented in bottle and never disgorged, so it's cloudy and dry. Officially labelled Sui Lieviti.

Rive + a village name = one steep hillside, one vintage, hand-picked.

Rive marks a Prosecco Superiore from grapes of a single village or hamlet, harvested by hand and vintage-dated. Usually from the steepest slopes - the best everyday step up in quality.

Rive marks a Prosecco Superiore from grapes of a single village or hamlet, harvested by hand and vintage-dated. Usually from the steepest slopes - the best everyday step up in quality.

Sweetness level shapes the wine more than anything else in the bottle.

Prosecco Superiore runs from bone-dry Extra Brut through Brut and Extra Dry to Dry. Fruitier, softer Glera carries a little sugar well; the drier styles show the site and suit food better.

Prosecco Superiore runs from bone-dry Extra Brut through Brut and Extra Dry to Dry. Fruitier, softer Glera carries a little sugar well; the drier styles show the site and suit food better.

Extra Dry is the local tradition; the trend is drier.

Locals long preferred Extra Dry and Dry, whose touch of sugar flatters Glera's fruit. Ambitious producers now push Brut and Extra Brut, especially for Rive wines.

Locals long preferred Extra Dry and Dry, whose touch of sugar flatters Glera's fruit. Ambitious producers now push Brut and Extra Brut, especially for Rive wines.

Superiore di Cartizze: the grand-cru hill - riper, richer, gently sweet.

From one small, steep hill near Valdobbiadene. Peach, apricot, rose petal and almond with a creamy texture; traditionally made in the Dry style, it's the region's celebration bottle.

From one small, steep hill near Valdobbiadene. Peach, apricot, rose petal and almond with a creamy texture; traditionally made in the Dry style, it's the region's celebration bottle.

Celebration bottle: Superiore di Cartizze from Col Vetoraz or Bisol.

The grand-cru hill of Prosecco: riper, creamier, gently sweet. The local way to toast a big moment.

The grand-cru hill of Prosecco: riper, creamier, gently sweet. The local way to toast a big moment.

Superiore di Cartizze: the famous hill crowning the zone - the local grand cru.

A small, steep amphitheatre of vines near Valdobbiadene with its own name on the label. Riper, more aromatic and traditionally made a touch sweeter; the area's most prized and priciest Prosecco.

A small, steep amphitheatre of vines near Valdobbiadene with its own name on the label. Riper, more aromatic and traditionally made a touch sweeter; the area's most prized and priciest Prosecco.

Col fondo / Sui Lieviti: cloudy, dry, bottle-fermented - Prosecco before tanks.

Re-fermented in its own bottle and sold with the yeast sediment, usually under a crown cap. Bone-dry, lower in alcohol, with apple, bread and a savoury, slightly bitter finish. Pour it clear or swirl the lees in.

Re-fermented in its own bottle and sold with the yeast sediment, usually under a crown cap. Bone-dry, lower in alcohol, with apple, bread and a savoury, slightly bitter finish. Pour it clear or swirl the lees in.

Local find: a cloudy col fondo from Casa Coste Piane or Ca' dei Zago.

Bone-dry, bottle-fermented, crown-capped - the old farmhouse Prosecco, rarely seen in mainstream shops.

Bone-dry, bottle-fermented, crown-capped - the old farmhouse Prosecco, rarely seen in mainstream shops.

Bottle re-fermentation without disgorging: the col fondo way.

The wine finishes fermenting in its own bottle and keeps the yeast sediment. It's drier and more savoury, with gentler fizz and a cloudy look.

The wine finishes fermenting in its own bottle and keeps the yeast sediment. It's drier and more savoury, with gentler fizz and a cloudy look.

Adami: Vidor family house; Vigneto Giardino is a benchmark single-site Rive.

A family house in Vidor since 1933. Vigneto Giardino, from a south-facing slope in Colbertaldo, is one of the reference Rive wines; Col Credas is a dry, mineral Extra Brut.

Adami was founded in 1933 at Vidor, on the Valdobbiadene side of the zone, and is known for refined, mineral wines with real texture. Its flagship, Vigneto Giardino, is a single-vineyard Rive di Colbertaldo from south-facing slopes at roughly 200-350 metres, made in the Dry style: more concentrated and mineral than everyday Prosecco, with the gentle sweetness balanced by acidity. It has collected top awards year after year. At the other end of the sweetness scale, Col Credas, a Rive di Farra di Soligo Extra Brut, sits among the best Prosecco Superiore wines in recent guides. Tasting the two side by side is a quick lesson in how dosage and site shape Glera. Both are fairly priced for what they are; Col Credas is the food wine, Vigneto Giardino the aperitivo showpiece.

Ruggeri: Valdobbiadene house; Giustino B. is a model Extra Dry.

A historic Valdobbiadene firm working with around a hundred growers. Giustino B., named for the founder, is a reference Extra Dry; Vecchie Viti comes from very old vines.

Ruggeri is a Valdobbiadene house with deep roots on the Cartizze hill, where it buys a significant share of the fruit. It owns few vines itself and works with around a hundred grower families, many for decades, running a separate line for its top wines. Giustino B., named after the founder, is the house's best-known bottle: an Extra Dry with fine floral and fruit aromas that regularly ranks among the best Prosecco Superiore wines. Vecchie Viti is a Brut from vines 80 to 100 years old spread over many small plots - savoury, dry and unusually deep for Prosecco. The Cartizze is made in the traditional, softly sweet style. Order Giustino B. if you want to understand why Extra Dry is the local favourite; Vecchie Viti is the connoisseur's choice.

Hillside work by hand is the hidden cost - and the quality edge.

Many DOCG vineyards sit on tiny grassy terraces too steep for machines, so they're farmed and picked by hand. It's why Superiore costs more than DOC and why Rive wines taste more concentrated.

The hills between Conegliano and Valdobbiadene are a landscape of sharp ridges with vines on narrow grassy terraces, the ciglioni, which were inscribed as a UNESCO cultural landscape in 2019. On the steepest slopes almost everything - pruning, spraying, harvesting - is done by hand, while the flat Prosecco DOC plain is largely mechanised. That effort shows up in the glass in two ways. Hand-picking lets growers select healthy, properly ripe bunches, and the steep, well-drained sites give smaller crops with more aroma. Rive wines, which must be hand-harvested and come from one village, are the clearest expression of this. When you weigh a Rive or a Cartizze against a supermarket Prosecco, you're paying for this labour as much as for the name.

Collector's bubbly: Nino Franco's Grave di Stecca or Adami's Vigneto Giardino.

Single-vineyard Glera at its most serious - the bottles that prove Prosecco can be more than a party wine.

If you want one bottle that changes a friend's mind about Prosecco, choose a single-vineyard wine from a top house. Nino Franco's Grave di Stecca comes from a walled, stony vineyard around the family villa in Valdobbiadene and spends extra time on its lees; it's fuller and more layered than standard Prosecco and, because tasters found it untypical, is labelled simply 'spumante' rather than DOCG. Adami's Vigneto Giardino, a Rive di Colbertaldo from one south-facing slope, is made in the Dry style but balanced by acidity and mineral lift, and has been one of the most decorated Prosecco wines for years. Both cost more than everyday Prosecco but far less than prestige Champagne, and both are made to drink within a few years of the vintage, so don't cellar them for long.

Nino Franco: historic Valdobbiadene house; Rustico is the classic Brut.

A family firm in Valdobbiadene since 1919, modernised by Primo Franco from the 1980s. Rustico is its widely seen Brut; Grave di Stecca, from a walled single vineyard, is the cult bottle.

Nino Franco is one of Valdobbiadene's reference houses, founded in 1919 and run by Primo Franco since 1982, who pushed for energy and freshness over sweetness. Rustico, the house Brut, is a dependable aperitivo bottle with apple and nashi-pear fruit and lively acidity. The estate's best-known wine is Grave di Stecca, from a walled, stony vineyard planted in 1993 around the family's Villa Barberina; it spends extra time on its lees and is fuller and more complex than standard Prosecco. Because official tasters judged it untypical, it now carries a plain 'spumante' label rather than the DOCG - a curiosity worth knowing, since it's among the most sought-after bottles of the zone. Order Rustico by the glass; buy Grave di Stecca to see how far Glera can go.

Col Vetoraz: family estate at the top of Cartizze; its Cartizze is the reference.

The Miotto family's estate on the highest part of the Cartizze hill, near 400 metres. Its Cartizze is silky and floral; the numbered cuvées cover every sweetness level.

Col Vetoraz takes its name from the hilltop it sits on, at almost 400 metres in Santo Stefano di Valdobbiadene, the highest point of the Cartizze area. The Miotto family settled there in the 1830s and planted vines at once. The estate's Superiore di Cartizze, made in the Dry style, is silky and full, with ripe fruit and floral notes - a textbook example of why the hill is prized. The rest of the range is cleverly labelled by sweetness: Cuvée Ø is completely dry, Cuvée 5 an Extra Brut with a little more roundness, Cuvée 13 an Extra Dry. That makes Col Vetoraz a useful house for working out which style you like. Buy the Cartizze as a celebration bottle; try Cuvée Ø if you want Prosecco at its most austere.

Casa Coste Piane: the col fondo guardian - old vines, nothing added.

Loris Follador's family estate in Santo Stefano di Valdobbiadene: very old vines, organic farming, and Prosecco re-fermented in bottle and never disgorged, the way it was made a century ago.

Casa Coste Piane is the producer most often credited with keeping col fondo alive. Loris Follador, an agronomist, farms around six hectares of steep slopes in Santo Stefano di Valdobbiadene with his wife and sons; some vines are over a century old and propagated from the family's own cuttings, and the field blend includes the old local partners Verdiso, Bianchetta and Perera alongside Glera. Farming follows organic principles, and in the cellar the wine is simply allowed to finish fermenting in the bottle with its own yeast - no disgorging, no dosage, no filtration. The result is a cloudy, almost dry, gently sparkling wine with apple, herbs and a savoury bite, far from commercial Prosecco. Brichet comes from vines outside the DOCG. Younger growers such as Ca' dei Zago name Follador as their inspiration; drink it with salumi and simple country food.

Ca' dei Zago: young Valdobbiadene grower leading the col fondo revival.

Christian Zago's small organic family estate in Valdobbiadene makes a bone-dry, lees-cloudy col fondo that sells out every year.

Ca' dei Zago is the young face of col fondo. Christian Zago farms a small family holding of Glera in Valdobbiadene, organically and with biodynamic methods, and released his first col fondo with the 2011 vintage, inspired by Loris Follador of Casa Coste Piane. The method is deliberately simple: wild-yeast fermentation in steel and cement, a winter's rest, then bottling in spring with a little sugar and yeast so the wine re-ferments in the bottle. It's left on its lees, closed with a crown cap and sold without dosage, filtration kept to a minimum. The wine is bone-dry, around 10-11% alcohol, cloudy and very drinkable - the kind of bottle natural-wine bars love. It's priced like a good everyday wine and sells out each year, with much of it exported, so you may also spot it on natural-wine lists abroad.

Single-site and single-parcel bottlings are where the region is heading.

Rive and parcel wines - Sorelle Bronca's Particelle, Adami's Vigneto Giardino, Nino Franco's Grave di Stecca - show that Glera can carry a sense of place.

For decades Prosecco Superiore was sold on brand and sweetness, with large houses blending fruit from many growers. The Rive category, vintage-dated and limited to one village, changed the conversation, and the best producers now go further. Adami's Vigneto Giardino comes from a single south-facing slope in Colbertaldo; Sorelle Bronca bottles numbered parcels as 'Particelle'; Nino Franco's Grave di Stecca comes from one walled vineyard and spends extra time on its lees, gaining texture. Many of these wines are also made drier, so the site rather than sugar does the talking. Recent guide rankings of the best Prosecco Superiore are dominated by Rive wines from named villages such as Santo Stefano, Col San Martino, San Pietro di Barbozza and Farra di Soligo. If you're comparing producers, line up two Rive from different villages in the same sweetness style - the differences in perfume and texture are real.

Steep, cool hills: slower ripening keeps the aromas and the acidity.

The DOCG vines grow on steep hogback hills at the foot of the Alps. Cool nights and mountain breezes slow ripening, so Glera keeps its pear-and-blossom perfume and fresh acidity better than on the warm plain below.

The DOCG vines grow on steep hogback hills at the foot of the Alps. Cool nights and mountain breezes slow ripening, so Glera keeps its pear-and-blossom perfume and fresh acidity better than on the warm plain below.

In the glass: More perfume, crisper acidity, finer bubbles than lowland Prosecco.

Hillside work by hand is the hidden cost - and the quality edge.

Many DOCG vineyards sit on tiny grassy terraces too steep for machines, so they're farmed and picked by hand. It's why Superiore costs more than DOC and why Rive wines taste more concentrated.

The hills between Conegliano and Valdobbiadene are a landscape of sharp ridges with vines on narrow grassy terraces, the ciglioni, which were inscribed as a UNESCO cultural landscape in 2019. On the steepest slopes almost everything - pruning, spraying, harvesting - is done by hand, while the flat Prosecco DOC plain is largely mechanised. That effort shows up in the glass in two ways. Hand-picking lets growers select healthy, properly ripe bunches, and the steep, well-drained sites give smaller crops with more aroma. Rive wines, which must be hand-harvested and come from one village, are the clearest expression of this. When you weigh a Rive or a Cartizze against a supermarket Prosecco, you're paying for this labour as much as for the name.

In the glass: Riper, cleaner fruit and more concentration; higher cost.

Sweetness level shapes the wine more than anything else in the bottle.

Prosecco Superiore runs from bone-dry Extra Brut through Brut and Extra Dry to Dry. Fruitier, softer Glera carries a little sugar well; the drier styles show the site and suit food better.

Prosecco Superiore runs from bone-dry Extra Brut through Brut and Extra Dry to Dry. Fruitier, softer Glera carries a little sugar well; the drier styles show the site and suit food better.

In the glass: Extra Brut and Brut: crisp, mineral. Extra Dry: rounder, fruitier. Dry: soft, noticeably sweet.

Tank fermentation keeps Prosecco fresh, fruity and affordable.

The second fermentation that makes the bubbles happens in a large pressurised tank, not in each bottle as in Champagne. That keeps Glera's fresh pear and blossom upfront, with no bready notes.

The second fermentation that makes the bubbles happens in a large pressurised tank, not in each bottle as in Champagne. That keeps Glera's fresh pear and blossom upfront, with no bready notes.

In the glass: Fresh, fruity, floral; softer, larger bubbles; no toasty or bready character.

Bottle re-fermentation without disgorging: the col fondo way.

The wine finishes fermenting in its own bottle and keeps the yeast sediment. It's drier and more savoury, with gentler fizz and a cloudy look.

The wine finishes fermenting in its own bottle and keeps the yeast sediment. It's drier and more savoury, with gentler fizz and a cloudy look.

In the glass: Bone-dry, yeasty, savoury; cloudy, softer sparkle; more site character.

Extra Dry is the local tradition; the trend is drier.

Locals long preferred Extra Dry and Dry, whose touch of sugar flatters Glera's fruit. Ambitious producers now push Brut and Extra Brut, especially for Rive wines.

Locals long preferred Extra Dry and Dry, whose touch of sugar flatters Glera's fruit. Ambitious producers now push Brut and Extra Brut, especially for Rive wines.

In the glass: Extra Dry: rounder and fruitier. Extra Brut: tighter, more mineral, better with food.

Single-site and single-parcel bottlings are where the region is heading.

Rive and parcel wines - Sorelle Bronca's Particelle, Adami's Vigneto Giardino, Nino Franco's Grave di Stecca - show that Glera can carry a sense of place.

For decades Prosecco Superiore was sold on brand and sweetness, with large houses blending fruit from many growers. The Rive category, vintage-dated and limited to one village, changed the conversation, and the best producers now go further. Adami's Vigneto Giardino comes from a single south-facing slope in Colbertaldo; Sorelle Bronca bottles numbered parcels as 'Particelle'; Nino Franco's Grave di Stecca comes from one walled vineyard and spends extra time on its lees, gaining texture. Many of these wines are also made drier, so the site rather than sugar does the talking. Recent guide rankings of the best Prosecco Superiore are dominated by Rive wines from named villages such as Santo Stefano, Col San Martino, San Pietro di Barbozza and Farra di Soligo. If you're comparing producers, line up two Rive from different villages in the same sweetness style - the differences in perfume and texture are real.

In the glass: More concentration and texture, clearer differences between hillsides.

Drink it young, cold and from a wine glass, not a flute.

Prosecco is made for freshness: the vintage on the bottle tells you how young it is. Locals now pour it into larger white-wine glasses so the aromas can open.

Prosecco is made for freshness: the vintage on the bottle tells you how young it is. Locals now pour it into larger white-wine glasses so the aromas can open.

In the glass: A wider glass shows more fruit and blossom; a young bottle tastes livelier.