06/22/08 – misunderstood European bubbly, part 2
Winos,
Typically, when we combine two different wines into a single subject for one of our weekly meetings — i.e. Barolo and Chianti, Muscat and Sherry, etc. — people tend to bring fairly even numbers of each. Last week, however, one of the two wines selected for the tasting went entirely unrepresented in the final bottle count, an event that hasn’t occurred since the ill-fated Chardonnay and Organic Lingonberry Wine from Northern Sweden tasting of our younger and more foolhardy days. At Jason’s place on Wednesday, we drank eight Crémants and a tragic total of zero Proseccos. This week, we right the wrong that so cruelly befell one of our favorite Italian bubblers.
Prosecco, a spumante from the northern Italian region of Veneto, is not made in the Champagne method — nor has it traditionally been taken seriously by American wine drinkers. However, this seems to be changing, as more and more people discover the “serious” Proseccos that can still be bought for less than their French counterparts. Read this fun article by wine provocateur Eric Asimov of the Times, which basically encourages douchebags to stop being so douchey and just drink some Prosecco. And this page is a nice quick Prosecco primer, featuring a photo of Wallace Shawn’s long-lost Italian brother.
Finally, this LA Times article — which hopefully at least a few of you will have already read — details Prosecco’s rise from an ingredient in the famed Bellini cocktail to a fruity, crisp sparkler worthy of our attention. Please make sure you read this last one before buying your bottle; it explains what to look for on the label, as well as how to avoid examples of cheap, “industrial” Prosecco. (As always, you can eschew bottle-bringing responsibility and present us with a cool, crisp $10 bill instead.)
We’ll be meeting at Emily’s place in H’wood. The RSVP situation is as follows: new members have eight spots reserved for them at each and every meeting, with preference within those spots given to newbies who were denied admittance due to space constraints in recent weeks. Please do not RSVP in the positive if you’re not sure you can make it, as this will deny someone else the opportunity of attending the meeting. If you do RSVP and then need to cancel, please inform me as soon as possible.
Once you’ve gotten your confirmation e-mail, go out in search of a bottle of delicious Prosecco — or, if you prefer, just bring us a $10 bill, because we love the Hamiltons. See you lushes on Tuesday night…
Jesse