Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to welcome you to another lovely edition of Barrel to Bottle with Binny's Beverage Depot. My name is Kristen Ellis. I'm here with Patrick Brophy. Hey, Pat. Hey, how you doing? I'm good, welcome. I'm excited for today, actually. And we're here with Greg Versch. What up, Greg? Hey, Kristen, I'm doing great. Happy to hear that, man. So, everybody who listens to the podcast knows that you are all about bubbles. I am. One of your favorites. And a lot of people who listen to the podcast also probably know that you worked in Italy six years. You worked in Italy. It's a long time. So, today's topic is literally the Kristen Podcast. It is the confluence of things that you love, because we're talking about... Fizz. Italian fizz. I love this stuff. I can't get over it. Let's talk about Prosecco. Bobbly wine goes back all the way to ancient Roman times. A lot of people don't know that or really even think about it, but it was more spontaneous, and it actually is a style of wine today. And it's lovingly called the ancient method. It was really quite spontaneous. They would make their wine after harvest, and they would put it in their clay vessels, deep down into cellars that they had at the time, and fermentation would cease because the wines would get too cold. And when yeast dropped below a certain temperature, they'd go to sleep. They don't die, they just go to sleep like a lobster. So spring comes, and obviously temperatures rise, and the yeast wake up again, and of course they've been asleep for a long winter, so they're hungry. They start to create more ethanol and also more carbon dioxide. So when the Romans came and opened up their wine, they would find it to be fizzy. They couldn't explain why, but now we know this is it. There are producers that still make wine in this method called the ancient method. So where is Prosecco from? Just anywhere in Italy? And they make sparkling wines called Prosecco? So Prosecco is the place. Oftentimes in Italy, we name our wines from the place where it comes. So Chianti is a region. The wines that are associated with that region are then called Chianti. The wine region itself straddles two regions in Italy. So it's between the Friuli, Venezia Giulia region and the Veneto. The Veneto, obviously a very famous region because that holds the city of Venice. So it's between those two larger regions within the provinces of Treviso and Trieste. So that's the region itself and it's huge. So Prosecco is really easy to make. It's really cheap to make. And it's really delicious and simple. It all comes down to obviously the quality of the grapes. But in terms of mass production, it's made in such a way that allows it to be cheaply made and cheaply consumed. So that's part to its popularity is the price is so accessible for so many people. Is part of that price accessibility, the climate there, is it just very easy, easy growing, high yield grapes end of the season? I think it encompasses all of that. So Italy in itself is a perfect place up and down for grapes. What they do to, in the Prosecco DOC, which is kind of the base appellated designation of Prosecco, yes, the yields are gonna be incredibly high. The yields will get tighter as we talk more and more about the different quality designations of Prosecco, but that's exactly it. So let's back it up. Yep. We have a Focetta Prosecco DOC here. You can find it at pretty much every Binny's. Lovely lavender purple label. It's 10 bucks on the shelf. So this is our example for a regular generic Prosecco DOC. These grapes are sourced within the entire Prosecco zone. So let's go ahead and taste this first. Very cool, great. Notice how big the bubbles are. They're relatively larger bubbles. They're very generous. And that's part and parcel to the method of production. The style of bubbly wine is defined by which method the CO2 becomes trapped inside the liquid. That's the idea. You'll process your glera grape and you'll make a base wine. So these base wines are generally made to dryness, more or less depending on the style. Could be a little bit off dry, the base wine. And they put the base wine of glera grape into a large tank. And they need to inoculate an alcoholic fermentation. Another one. So what are we going to add to the tank, guys? Yeast. Yeast and sugar. And sugar. Yep. So they put the yeast and the sugar in, a few yeast nutrients, and they close it up in a closed system. So as the yeast consumes the sugar and creates more alcohol, so the new wine after it's finished is going to be higher in alcohol than the base naturally. And the CO2, because it's a closed system, can escape into the atmosphere, it becomes trapped inside the liquid, and there you have fizzy wine. So after secondary fermentation is complete, the wine then must sit in the tank for 30 days. Now, sweetness level, where would this compare to champagne, where we see sweetness levels, brew to extra dry, all that? This would be kind of considered an extra dry. Okay. Yeah. But this is a dry wine. Totally. I get what you're saying with the big bubbles too. That's kind of interesting. I never really thought about that, because when I'm just drinking champagne, I'm always just kind of throwing it back. And those are tiny bubbles, champagne. What they're doing might sound simpler, might sound lesser quality, it's just different. It's a different style. It's a different style. Yeah. And so they're making it to be drunk, young, fresh, fruity, consumed without thinking too much about it. Yeah, totally. That really shows in this wine. I mean, this is light and fresh. Pear on the nose, once you get to the palate, it turns into lemon, lemon curd, maybe. But it's still super acidic, super bright. I don't like Prosecchi for mimosas. Because they are so fruit forward and because they can have a little bit of that residual sugar, that sweetness, I don't like the way that it really plays with the orange juice. I do it with, I use this with the grapefruit juice because it's a little bit more bitter, it's sour. And I find the grapefruit juice mimosas to be better with the sweeter Prosecco. But that's my style. Very interesting. That was my next question of what, how else do you enjoy Prosecchi like this? Yeah, normally just on its own, you know. It's a great kind of Sunday brunch sort of drink, especially when it's hot outside. I like bubbles to get the evening started. You know, it's kind of what you do when you get inside a restaurant, right? What's the first thing they offer you? Most people know and like to start with Fizz if it's not a cocktail. So this is perfect. Great party starter. And I mean, it's $10 a bottle. You need a party wine for 30, 40 people. You need a couple cases for a wedding. I just think this Prosecco is great. So that was Fasetta. That was kind of a regular, everyday, typical style of Prosecco. Now we're gonna step up, because like I said, there are different sort of quality designations within the Prosecco region. And here we have the Prosecco DOCG. So when you see that little G appended on the end of this acronym, this is inherent that it is a higher quality designation within a region. So what this generally means are the grapes are better, and the wines must go through various tastings, and there's a higher minimum alcohol, which means the grapes are riper at harvest, the yields are lower. Well, so this is the Biesel, and this particular wine is called Creede, which is like belief or believe. Creede. Creede means beliefs, he believes, yeah. A synonym for creed, yeah. Dude, if you guys keep being cocky, your punishment is going to be 15 minutes of listening to creed. Okay. Well, that's terrible. This is the Valdobbiadere, and we'll talk about that, what that word means in a little bit, the DOCG. This is 11.5% ABV, and this is a dry wine, right? We taste it, you guys like it? Yeah. It smells more serious. It doesn't seem as aggressively carbonated as the last one. Finer bubbles, smaller bubbles, more care, more time, that sort of thing. So you can make Prosecco different ways. You can make Prosecco in the champagne method, in these higher quality DOCG appellations, not in the regular DOC. There are two words you may see when you're shopping for Prosecco on the label, and they represent two small communes within the Prosecco DOCG zone. And they are connelliano. Can you repeat after me? Connelliano. Connelliano. That was awesome. And valdo biadene. Valdo biadene. Yeah. I like your little infliction with the little accent. I don't like the direction this is going. How do Italians repeat things? Right. Yeah. You can't see our hands, but we really nailed it. So if you see these words, first you'll notice the price of that bottle of wine is probably higher than the standard $8, $10, $12 bottles. Sure. They can get up to $40, man. And these are going to be the best of the best. They have a crew system of vineyards like you might have heard in Burgundy and other high quality places. So these particular towns, these particular communes make the best of the best Prosecco. And that's what we're tasting here. And the best of the best only cost $40? Well, yeah, it's Prosecco. Wow. Yeah. That's what we're talking about. We're talking about the Charmat method. It is a bulk method. It is very inexpensive to make it, but there is a very famous vineyard called the Cartice Vineyard. So the single vineyard Prosecco, it's almost always a little bit sweet, and it's in that $40 range. And it's pretty darn good, actually. We sell it in a lot of the Binny's in the city. In contrast to Champagne, it's still Prosecco. I mean, it still has the characteristics of fun, fresh, complex at the same time. Sure. It's got a broader complexity because of the care in which it's made, but also an expression of that single vineyard, which is pretty rare. I mean, if you're talking about your Fasetta Prosecco, that thing is a source from a very wide reach. Just think about that. That was really cool. That's a serious bottle of wine. It is. It doesn't have the yeast quality that some fine champagnes do. Right, but it still has a creaminess. Yeah, it totally does have a creamy body, and a lot of that kind of ripe orchard fruit that I really like with that. If you're going to give somebody three main points of differentiation on why DOCG is higher quality than DOC, what would they be? Three words would simply be better grapes, better place, better production. Better production standards. Yeah, that's it. So we're talking about Franciacorta, and then we're gonna talk about Prosecco cocktails, or champagne style cocktails, because we're getting into the summertime. I mean, we have a few different DOCGs in Italy that make wine in the champagne method. And Franciacorta is by and large the best of the best of the best in Italy. But it's not Prosecco. But it's not Prosecco, because it's made in Northern Italy, basically due east in a region called Lombardia, or Lombardy, which is right next to Piedmont. I thought that was next to Downers Grove. Oh, Dad, again. Franciacorta, you know, the traditional made, traditionally made sparkling wine, which means the secondary fermentation takes place in the bottle, like we talked about earlier in the podcast. You know, it's hard to come out from under the shadow of champagne, and rightfully so, because champagne is, it's the best. I mean, there just is no argument. At least not for me. So what you can do is try, and you can differentiate yourself. So Francia Corta, around the lakes of Lago di Seio, is just a very highly regulated, celebrated DOCG. Now, if you notice on the label, it just says Francia Corta. It doesn't say DOCG on it. Francia Corta is one of 10 Appalachians in Europe that's allowed to just use their name on the label and not have to say AOC or DOCG, and champagne is another one. So they're much like champagne in that regard. There aren't very many. Yeah. There aren't very many lucky Appalachians that get to do it. So you said Glera is the grape used in Prosecco. Did they grow the same grape in Francia Corta? No. So these are made more in the champagne tradition. So the number one grape that takes up about 80% of plantings is Chardonnay. So Chardonnay gives your Fizz ageability. It gives the high acid, and it gives it the legs to stand on. So if you want to age your bottle of sparkling wine in your cellar for 5, 10 years, Chardonnay is the commanding ingredient that you need inside. The other two grapes in Franciacorta are Pinot noir and Pinot Bianco, or Pinot Blanc, if some people hear it. That's different. It is different. It's not used very much, but it still has its kind of Italian flair. So to have that secondary fermentation take place, you put yeast and sugar, right? And then you're going to close up this bottle with a beer cap. So that fermentation is going to take about 4 to 6 weeks, depending on the temperature of the cellar. Then you let that bottle of wine age. Now, the minimum aging for non-vintage champagne is 15 months. What's cool about Franciacorta is their minimum aging far exceeds champagne, and they oftentimes cost less. And so for a non-vintage, normal, regular bottle of Franciacorta, the minimum aging is 25 months total before release. If you want to get a vintage wine called a Mille Simato, then of course that's 37 before release. A vintage champagne, the minimum aging is 3 years. She's never going to open the bottle. I don't think she wanted to share it with us. She just brought it to show it off. A Franciacorta bottling, but I'm not familiar with this producer. Ricci Curvastro. Ricci Curvastro is the name of the producer. One of the first kind of iconic producers in Franciacorta. I think they're just over 100 nowadays. And they're celebrating their 50th or 60th birthday, 50th birthday in Franciacorta. They've been around for 50 years. So the word has been out in Italy for a long time. I lived there, but I was there for a particular milestone birthday. I celebrated with Franciacorta all night. And so I moved to Chicago and I started working for Binny's, because that's really the only place I know I can get it. Franciacorta is why we have Kristen. Exactly right. I walked through the aisles, and I was like, working here. Ricci Curbastro. Ricci Curbastro. You definitely pick up more notes of Chardonnay, the bready, I guess, yeasty quality that I associate with Chardonnay. Yeah, it's toasty. It's got a little bit of that hazelnut nutty aroma to it. I get a lot of tree fruit, a lot of pear. Banana. But it's super aromatic for 30 bucks. Wow, it's only $30? This is a beautiful wine. This competes with champagne. Easily. And you're talking about the size of the bubbles, and here the mousse is so fine. It's very delicate. Absolutely. And it really complements the aromatic compounds of the wine. I love it. I think it needs way more attention. I mean, if you just look at the quality and the aging, the ageability of the wine, it's just, it blows a lot of champagnes out of the water for the price. It's summertime, time for fizzy cocktails, my friends. I mean, it's time for fizz. So, you know, I wouldn't be here if I didn't find a way to get liquor into a wine podcast. So, what's another way that we can really enjoy this stuff without, you know, having to just drink boring old wine? If Prosecchi is the plural of Prosecco, what is the plural of Amaro, Pat? Amaree, my favorite liquor category. Yeah. Pat looks more like an ancient gull than an ancient Roman, but his Latin is spot on. That was woefully esoteric. One of the beautiful things about Prosecco is its versatility in cocktails. The impetus of this particular podcast came from a mutual love and respect of a spritz, which Italians call spritz. It might be like the most refreshing cocktail ever invented. Yes. So what is a spritz? It originated in Northeast Italy in Venice around the 1800s. So it's old school. I mean, people have been spritzing it up forever. And actually, it's born out of an Austrian tradition, and the word was a spritzen. It was originally equal parts white wine and soda water, but not today. Now, after Habsburgs flew the coup, I do mine with just Prosecco, but that's kind of how I roll. But the club soda element is sort of popular. Basically, what you do is you'll fill a big, fat wine glass with ice. You'll add Prosecco into the glass, about halfway up, give or take. About an ounce, ounce and a half of Aperol. Some people like a little bit more, a little bit less. You top that with club soda, with an orange slice, and you are in the winter circle. And this is terrific. It's never bad. It's never bad. I gotta tell you, bitter is one of the most underappreciated flavors around here. Bitter is so, so good. But with the sweetness of the orange, it's the bitter and the sweet working together. I mean, you're not doing this with Fernet Branca. You know, you just, you need that sweet, refreshing. Plus, the color sort of ticks the visual box. There's nothing like sitting outside in a cafe with a bright orange string with a piece of orange in it to just, you know. I couldn't see making one of these with one of the brown amari, but I bet it would taste great, but it would be so weird to look at. I don't know. Other cocktails quickly so people can try if you'd like to. Obviously, start with the spritz, man. That's where you start and that's where you finish. But in between, along the journey, try a spagliato. Spagliato is basically a Negroni spagliato. So it's four parts Prosecco, one part sweet vermouth, one part Campari or another Amaro, plus a little bit of an orange. So kind of the same as what we're drinking here, but we're adding the sweet vermouth component. Here's one that I thought would be awesome, a little bit too sweet for me, but I think is a good summer party idea, is a raspberry, limoncello, prosecco cocktail. So four parts prosecco, one part limoncello, then a little bit of raspberry simple syrup. You can either make that on your own, which is super easy to do, or buy it if you can find it, then garnish it with some raspberries and mint leaves. It sounds actually quite refreshing and fantastic. Something you can make in big bulk and put that out for people to serve themselves. Yeah, you could batch that and just serve it on a punch bowl. Exactly. Yeah. So those are a few different Prosecco or Fizz based cocktails for your summertime enjoyment, courtesy of your loving friends at Barrel to Bottle. The Binny's Podcast. The Binny's Podcast. Enjoy it in a cocktail, enjoy it on its own. Just enjoy it, man. Everything Italian, bubbles. Most importantly, enjoy it with friends, right? And we have listener Q&A. Send your questions to At Binny's Bev on Twitter, At Binny's Bev on Twitter with any of your alcohol-related questions. If we pick yours, you will win a gift card. How much is that gift card there, Patrick? A whopping 20 bones. Dude, 20 bucks can get you far. It'll buy you a lot of Prosecco. A couple bottles of Prosecco. Exactly, yeah. So what's this week's question? So it comes from Joe Gentile, and he writes, Is the deeper the punt, the better the bottle? Ooh, that's a good question. So should we clarify what the punt is first, I suppose? Yes. So punt is when the gentleman takes, he snaps the ball, he holds it. Oh, that's the Packers there. Yeah. And it gets you the extra points to obviously win the game. So punt being the indentation on the bottom of a fine wine bottle generally. Correct. Back in the day when glass bottles were individually blown, the end is naturally rounded. So they push it back in to punt it to create a flat surface so the bottle can stand. I always thought it was better to collect yeast and sediment and stuff. So nowadays, when we're talking about still wine, like Cabernet, Merlot, whatever, after you bring your bottle up from the cellar and you put it, you stand it up on the counter for two or three hours before you serve it, then that allows just kind of by luck of the design for the sediment to gather within the ring of the punt. But it's not necessary. There is no quality punt direct relationship. I wonder how that got started, then. So it just is kind of like every other sort of wives' tale. It just kind of is, you know, the bigger the punt, the higher the quality. But with Fizz, it's necessary because of all the pressure in a bottle of wine. The punt is actually more generous in a bottle that holds sparkling wine because there's about five or six atmospheres of pressure inside a bottle of champagne, which is the equivalent to the pressure inside a semi-truck tire, which if you've seen those bad boys blow out on the highway, there's a lot of pressure in there. So the punt is there to displace that pressure. So it's necessary in a bottle of sparkling wine, but the punt doesn't really displace anything in a bottle of still wine. Nowadays, these big punts, they are a bit gimmicky because they try to make the wine, you know, the bottle look more expensive and feel bigger. If I see another Napa Cabernet in a huge feeling bottle with an enormous punt, it's just like some grocery product in a grocery store where the container is designed to feel expensive. And it's just catch up, you know? Exactly. So Joe, I hope that answers your question. Perfect question for our Barrel to Bottle episode on Italian sparkling wine. So thank you, sir. 20 bucks coming to you to spend at your favorite Binny's Beverage Depot location. Hit us up with your question, at Binny's Bev on Twitter for your chance at a $20 gift card if we choose your question. All right, you guys, that's it. Really cool. Thanks for letting me talk about my thing again. Thanks for bringing the French Accorta. Yeah, that was a treat. I hope that people listen to this and go, I got to get me some because the stuff is just, it's an unsung hero in the sparkling wine world. And of value. And a value for quality you just can't get. Yeah. So don't be afraid to try something new. That's the idea with Italian wine. So many indigenous varieties, so many different styles. You could start today and finish your life never having the same wine again. That's pretty cool. Sounds like a challenge to me. Alright you guys. Keep tasting. Until next time, I'm Kristen. I'm Pat. I'm Greg. Do you guys remember Nickelback? When I was a... What kind of question is that? What are you talking? When I was a substitute teacher, my punishment was literally 15 minutes of Nickelback. Like, I would write it on the board in high for high school. And they didn't believe me, but I made them do it once. All right, so.