Located in Veneto, in northeastern Italy, Asolo Prosecco is one of the 2 DOCG Prosecco wine regions, the other being Conegliano Valdobbiadene. Both regions are located on the hills, where temperature variation and constant breezes help to develop the aromatic richness of the Glera grapes, the main variety used for Prosecco. This results in a product with a much more intense nose and palate with respect to the broader Prosecco DOC, whose grapes grow on the flatlands. The name of the Prosecco grape is legally protected and may now only be used within the Prosecco zone. Asolo's finest vineyard sites lie on the sunny south-facing slopes whose gentle gradient and loose soils offer excellent drainage. Asolo is at the western edge of the Colli Asolani Ridge at the foot of the Venetian Alps, 30 miles south of the city of Venice. Asolo Montello will have produced about 13 million bottles by the end of 2018. Together with the other DOCG, Conegliano Valdobbiadene, they account for about 100 million bottles, whereas the broader DOC produces about 450 million bottles. www.asolomontello.it www.asolo.it
After my 6 days in the Chiaretto/Bardolino area, I was transported, along with another NYC based journalist two hours to Asolo and our overnight hotel- Villa Serena- https://www.villaserena.eu. It was there that we had an introduction of Asolo Montello appellation wines with Armando Serena, the chairman of the Asolo Prosecco Consorzio. We tasted Asolo Prosecco Superiore Docg Extra Brut (produced so far only by the Asolo appellation), Brut, Extra Dry, and Dry wines. We then moved to a light lunch at Da Celeste. www.ristorantedaceleste.com
The rest of the day was spent at Giusti winery with Valentino Radaelli, the junior export manager. They have 175 acres of vines and are building a new winery. They produce 320,000 bottles of which 200,000 are Prosecco, the rest being table wines. www.giustiwine.com. Valentino drove us around the area and we spent an hour at the magnificent site- Nervesa della Battaglia in Treviso at the Abbey of Saint Eustace. In February, 1358 Nervesa was the scene of a battle in which the Republic of Venice was defeated by the forces of King Louis I of Hungary. The remains of the Abbey of Sant'Eustachio was abandoned in 1865 and heavily damaged during World War I, whose main battle took place only 656 feet away from the Abbey, along river Piave. https://www.comune.nervesa.tv.it/ Valentino took us to dinner at Osteria “Ai T’Osti” di Montebelluna. They don’t have a website but are on Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/tosti001/\
The next morning, after breakfast at the hotel, we were driven to Verona airport where I caught a flight to Zurich and transferred to my flight home to Newark Airport. Everything was perfect on this trip thanks to Irene and all our hosts.
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