How to Choose Italian Sparkling Wines?

In the way of low price bubbles, Italy offers an interesting choice of wines, each as fresh and fruity as the next. But how do you find your way between a Lambrusco, a Moscato d'Asti and a Prosecco?

Our Italian sparkling wine selection

A glass of rosé sparkling wine being poured

Lambrusco

Lambrusco refers to a family of grape varieties widely planted in the wide Emilia Romagna and in the southern part of Lombardy, between the Po and the city of Modena. Several DOCs (the equivalent of AOC in France) bear this name, including Lambrusco Reggiano, the most important, or that of a specific variant of the grape variety (Lambrusco Salamino di Santa Croce, Lambrusco di Sorbara, Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro). All of them produce astonishing sparkling rosé or red wines, sweet and dry, very often produced using the Charmat method.

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Appearance: light ruby colour, animated by more or less abundant foam.
Nose: these very fragrant wines offer intense notes of fresh red fruits and grapes.
Palate: most often frizzante and sweet, Lambrusco wines are especially valuable for their freshness, light alcohol content and fruity character, which make them easy to drink young.
Food and wine pairing: as an aperitif, with cold meats (for the driest); pizza, dessert based on red fruits (for the sweetest).

Lambrusco DOC

Let yourself be seduced by the sparkling freshness of our Lambrusco selection

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A glass of rosé sparkling wine being sloshed

A glass of sparkling wine with a strawberry in it

Moscato d’Asti

Alongside reds of great class and long ageing potential, Piedmont offers a sparkling sweet white wine, original for its very low alcohol content and seductive with its exuberant fruitiness. Originally present mainly in the province of Asti, the plantations of Moscato (Muscat), the only grape variety authorised in the appellation, have spread to the neighbouring provinces of Cuneo in the west and Alexandria in the east, on the slopes of the Langhe and Monferrato hills. The Moscato d'Asti is obtained by partial fermentation in closed vats which preserves a portion of natural sugar in the wine, as well as the carbon dioxide released by the fermentation.

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Appearance: light straw colour.
Nose: very fragrant and delicate, delivering intense and very fruity aromas, sometimes floral, close to fresh Moscato grapes, orange blossom, white or yellow fruits.
Palate: tender and supple, low acidity and very light in alcohol (around 5% vol.), its main interest being the purity of its fruity flavours. Thanks to their slight sweetness and fruity expression, the Moscato d'Asti are tasty wines, close to fresh fruit juice, slightly pearly, delicious and easy to access, to be drunk young. The best ones keep what freshness they need to avoid the softness that can characterize the lesser ones.
Food and wine pairing: as an aperitif, fruit-based desserts (fruit mousse, fruit tarts), fresh fruit.

Moscato DOC

Discover our selection of Moscato wines, with their sweet floral fragrance and fruity flavours

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A glass of white wine being poured, very zoomed in on the wine in the glass

A glass of sparkling wine finishing being poured next to one already poured

Prosecco

Probably originating in the Friuli region, where a municipality bears its name, the Glera grape variety has colonised the hills north of Treviso for at least two centuries, particularly around the towns of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene. The grape variety is best known for producing spumante wines (fully sparkling) or frizzante (slightly sparkling), in the style of Brut or more or less sweet (extra-dry and dry). Prosecco's main DOCs include Prosecco DOC, Prosecco DOCG Conegliano-Valdobbiadene and Prosecco DOCG Asolo.

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Appearance: pale colour, in soft tones.
Nose: this not very aromatic grape variety is a little more expansive in its semi-dry version, delivering fresh and discreet notes of citrus fruit, white fruit, flowers, sometimes yeast or dried fruit.
Palate: the spumante quality gives a lively, not very structured, delicate wine, sometimes marked by a slight bitterness in the Brut style. The dry and extra-dry, which are the traditional style, are rounder and sweeter with crunchier fruitiness.
Food and wine pairing: as an aperitif, fine fish, vegetable or fish terrines (brut), fruit desserts (dry and extra-dry styles)