PROSECCO DI VALDOBBIADENE
CASA COSTE PIANE, Loris Follador
Casa Coste Piane is a small 6-ha, organically run estate in Santo Stefano, heart of the Valdobbiadene area. For generations their wine had been sold in bulk but since 1983 they decided to bottle the production themselves.
The vineyards lie on slopes close to the cellar. The vines are on average 60 years old (some are pre-phylloxera!!) and their roots can grow up to 30-40 metres long. This Prosecco is a gem, it is one of the few made in the champenoise method wherein the second fermentation takes place in the bottle. Harvest is usually between the last week of September and the first week of October.
In April the wine is bottled without the addition of yeast and sugar, subsequently the indigenous yeast contained in the wine starts a second spontaneous fermentation that lasts for approximately four weeks.
After this the wine spends a further four weeks sur lie. The process of “disgorgement” is not practised, therefore the yeasts are still present in the bottle… any haziness is entirely natural.
This is very Champagne-like, with great purity and frankness, the aromas are of apple, acacia flowers with an interesting mineral twist and subtle yeastiness.
`Casa Coste Piane, Prosecco di Valdobbiadene, 11% - A lovely light refreshing sparkling wine with lean pineapple fruits and a crisp dry finish. Light years ahead of the standard cheap sweetish Prosecco, you can buy for a tenner in just about every shop in Ireland. Stockists: Redmond’s Ranelagh; McGuinness Wine Merchants, Dundalk; Le Caveau, Kilkenny` John Wilson Bottle of the week, Irish Times 4th February 2012
