Riccardo prosecco on a hot Sunday afternoon

Posted by winesleuth in Food and Wine, Italy, Sparkling Wine | 10 comments

Sometimes style does count over substance. I went to a new supper club not long ago and while the food was serviceable, it was really the setting and  atmosphere that bowled me over. It was the Old Hat Supper Club, a new one recently set up in Islington and I was there as a guest of Riccardo prosecco. Riccardo had invited me and a few of my foodie friends to sample their wares in a supper club setting.

Riccardo prosecco is launching here in the UK and they thought it would be a rather novel idea to use a supper club, which are all the rage now here in London. They kindly donated the prosecco for our lunch.  We started off with a cocktail of prosecco di Valdobbiadene, strawberry and basil which while sweet also managed to be quite refreshing and as it was a hot summer afternoon, very much appreciated. That has to be one of the advantages of using prosecco, fizz without the exorbitant price tag and if you’re going to adulterate your wine, why use champagne when prosecco works just as well.

We had a still prosecco or vino tranquilo as they call it, with the starter of stone oven baked sardines with tomatoes and herbs. I’ve only ever had still prosecco once before, but I do enjoy it. Although it is still, it does have a few lazy bubbles. Still prosecco is made from 100% prosecco grapes. Many people do not realize that prosecco is not only the name of the wine but also the grape. A lovely aperitif, apples and pears on the nose with a some flowery notes wafting about, on the palate, a lively wine with more of those great appley flavours, it washed down the sardines easily which were very… sardine-y.

The main of pork belly and crackling was served with two proseccos, the vino spumante extra dry DOC Prosecco di Valdobbiadene and the Cartizze which is the top end of the Riccardo prosecco line. Prosecco di Valdobiadene comes from the hills of Valdobiadene and Vidor with only select grapes making it into the bottle. I like the spumante as it has fantastic white fruit flavours, peaches and pineapples and more of the same on the nose with aromas of fresh hay in the mix. The  fizziness of the wine is just shy of champagne and races around your mouth. Prosecco does such a good job of refreshing the palate. I think it’s better then sorbet!

Cartizze is from the region of Cartizze only and is the best of the best. Cartizze has the best microclimate and terroir in the region and for this reason, it’s proseccos are the most prized. Tasting the Cartizze, I can see why. Elegant and well structured, the bubbles had a bit more substantialness to them and could almost be a champagne, they were that fine. Green apple, bosch pear, and acacia on the nose and palate with a full creaminess that is a sure sign of quality. I couldn’t get enough of the Cartizze. Such a delight to drink, I think that is the best quality of prosecco, it has a great fruit profile but acidity and bubbles to make it a fantastic food wine.  It worked well with the meat as it cut through the fattiness of the rather pedestrian pork belly, as all the wines did. I was hoping the crackling would redeem it but alas, it was on the chewy side.

Having a walk around the flat and garden, it was a fantastic setting for a meal and the prosecco was a big hit with us. If you want to see the place for yourself, you can book them at The Old Hat Supper Club, £30 for three courses. And be sure to take lots of Riccardo prosecco with you!

One important note about Ricardo prosecco is the fact that they are the first winery to have a traceability certification. What this means is that only the best sites are picked and every step of production is carefully monitored. It also means that you can literally trace your wine back to where it started. On the bottle they have a bottle number, vintage information and lot number. All you have to do is plug in the numbers on their website and all the information pops up. Nifty, eh!

A big thank you to Riccardo Prosecco and Douglas Blyde for arranging the lunch for us.