Now the bubbling Italian prosecco may be famous all over the world, but we prefer to drink our local sparkling wine. The wine region where we live, the Oltrepò Pavese, is Italy’s largest pinot nero, pino noir, growing area. And this grape, blue peel, white pulp, is ideal for making the spumante wine. Either the cheap, prosecco way with fermentation in large stainless steel barrels, or the expensive, champagne way, fermentation in the bottle. And where most prosecco wines are light and slightly acid, the spumantes of the Oltrepò really taste of … wine! Delicious. No more cheap champagnoise wines from the supermarket for me. They are so good that the Italian Michelin, the Gambero Rosso, chose one of the Oltrepo spumantes as the best one of the whole of Italy in 2014! Not the prosecco and the Franciacorta spumantes but the Pinot Nero Metodo Classico ’Nature’ of wine house Monsupello in Codevilla.
More than prosecco
For those who do not (only) like sparkling wines, there are reds and whites of high quality as well. The red pinot nero or burgundy or Blauburgunder of Tenuta Mazzolino is awarded the highest rewards year after year. The white riesling (italico as well as renano) is another favorite of the region. As is the sweet moscato dessert wine. Typical of the region are the young and fruity red frizzante Bonarda, the strong Buttafuoco and the sweet red Sangue di Giuda. As these are only sparsely available abroad (or even elsewhere in Italy) you have to come to the Oltrepo Pavese yourself to taste them. Hundreds of small wine producers’ cantine await you!