Wine myths
Prosecco is a kind of Champagne
“Prosecco and Champagne are the same thing, made the same way.”
They are different grapes, different countries and — crucially — different methods. Champagne takes its second fermentation in the bottle; Prosecco takes it in a sealed tank.
The full answer
Champagne is made in Champagne from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier, with the second fermentation in the bottle each wine is sold in, followed by extended ageing on the dead yeast cells.
Prosecco is made in north-east Italy from Glera, with the second fermentation in a pressurised tank and a short time on lees before bottling. This is the tank or Charmat method.
The difference is audible in the vocabulary people use. Champagne’s bready, biscuity character comes from long lees ageing; Prosecco’s pear-and-white-flower character comes from keeping the fruit intact, which is the point of the tank method.
Neither method is better in the abstract. The tank method is the right way to make a wine whose appeal is primary fruit aroma, and using the traditional method on Glera would bury exactly what people drink Prosecco for.
Both are sparkling wines with a second fermentation, so the underlying principle is shared even though almost nothing else is.
Why the belief persists
"Champagne" is used generically for sparkling wine in casual speech, in a way no other appellation is.
A biochemical or physical process that has been demonstrated experimentally and is not seriously contested — the sort of statement that appears in enology textbooks without hedging.
What would settle it: A controlled experiment failing to reproduce the process.
Sources
Sources consulted
- Institut national de l’origine et de la qualité (INAO) — INAO, France