What is Prosecco?

Prosecco is sparkling wine produced in the Veneto and Friuli regions of Italy, principally from the Glera grape. Most commercial Prosecco is fermented for a second time in tank (the Martinotti method), which keeps production costs down and emphasizes fresh fruit rather than autolysis. Typical ABV is about 11–12%.

That profile is why it belongs in a spritz: the wine should taste of apple and pear against Aperol or other aperitivi, not of toast and chalk. Champagne in an Aperol Spritz is both an expensive mismatch and a slightly worse spritz, because the wine’s autolytic character fights the liqueur.

Green apple, pear, white flowers, and softer acidity than traditional-method Champagne. Extra Dry on a Prosecco label is off-dry, not bone-dry; Brut is the drier mixing choice. Tank fermentation (Martinotti / Charmat) preserves primary fruit at the expense of the biscuit and yeast notes of bottle fermentation.

Tank-method sparkling wine from the northeast of Italy became a global commodity in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The modern Aperol Spritz specification — Prosecco, Aperol, soda — locked Prosecco in as the sparkling of that template.

The French 75 was historically built on Champagne or other dry bubbles; Prosecco can stand in at home when the drink is treated as a sour lengthened with sparkle rather than as a Champagne cocktail.

Open the bottle cold. Add Prosecco last, over ice in a spritz or into a coupe after the gin-lemon-sugar base of a French 75 has been shaken and strained. Do not shake the wine.

A splash of soda in a spritz dilutes sweetness and restores carbonation; without it the drink collapses toward a bitter mimosa. Extra Dry Prosecco is sweeter than the name suggests — use Brut if the liqueur is already sweet.