Hi,

today we talk about the history of Prosecco…

The first historical recording Prosecco dates back to Pio the Elder in the 20 BC; in fact it seems that the wife of the emperor Augustus, the empress Livia, always had a  jug of Prosecco at the table because she was convinced this wine  had medicinal qualities. Just think that the empress who drank it every day lived up to 86 years (incredible age and practically unreachable in those days)

At the time it was not called Prosecco but “Pucinum”

We can link the wine Pucinum to the Prosecco because in 1694 an Englishman (Philip Morrison) traveling in the territories of the Republic of Venice, noted in his journals “Here, at the mouths of the Timavo (a river that flows between Croatia, Slovenia and Italy) near the castle Pucinum (today called Prosecco castle), there is a wide consumption of a wine called Prosecco “.

The republic of Venice

The Republic of Venice at the time was the most important trading point in Europe.
Venice had both the “state of earth” given by the territories conquered by the Republic of Venice and the “state of the sea”, the maritime domains. From the state of the sea came the “navigated” wines, or the wines imported by ship; these wines were all called Malvasia because they were shipped from a port in Greece names monemvasia (it still exists).

Those wines where all sweet and, tin order to sell them, the Venetians began to open “wine bars” called Malvasia … like wines …

Remedio Stefano opened a Malvasia in 1567 and he was the first one who sold Prosecco in Venice by adding it to his wine list (in addition to imported wines). At the time, the young Venetian nobles, before being presented to the Doge, used to drink a glass of Remedio which, with its medicinal qualities, brought luck both for sonship and for social life.

The first Prosecco fermented in  bottle was made in 1904 in Croatia

The Prosecco in the region Veneto

As far as the Valdobbiandene area is concerned, the first Prosecco vineyard dates back to 1860 but the wine trade in Valdobbiadene until the early 1900s was predominantly red; in particular of  Clinto wine.
From 1939 Conegliano started producing Prosecco as we know it today using the Martinotti method; Valdobbiadene started using the autoclave in the 70s; first the sparkling wine was fermented in  bottle.

Good, now that you know also the story of Prosecco … taste, taste, taste !!!

See you soon

Ilde