Champagne vs. Prosecco – Top 3 Differences

Australia makes some really amazing sparkling wine. (This includes sparkling red wine, notably, Sparkling Shiraz, which is all-in-all an Aussie style!) You will find sparkling wine on the portfolio of every winery, made with different grapes and using different methods. In fact, before still wine got popular in our country, much of the wine produced was either fortified or sparkling. Today, while the sale of the former is on a decline, that of the latter is on a rise. A worthy mention here is pioneer Colin Preece, whose eye for detail and keen attention to quality led to the increase in demand for Australian sparkling wines.

Comparing Champagne vs. Prosecco

When it comes to sparkling wine, wine aficionados have heard and tried two kinds of wines – Champagne and Prosecco. Most people also know that Champagne is a French wine, while Prosecco is Italian – but what are the differences between the two other than their nationality? Let’s iscuss!

1. To begin with, as mentioned earlier, Champagne comes from France. It is produced in a wine region with the same name, located 130 km from Paris. Prosecco, on the other hand, is made in Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia regions in Italy. Veneto is located 550 km from Rome and 24 km from Venice.
2. Champagne is usually manufactured using a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes. This also depends on the type of Champagne, though. For example, a Champagne labelled blanc de blancs means that the wine is made solely using Chardonnay grapes. Similarly, blanc de noirs is made entirely using Pinot Noir grapes. (Pinot Noir is a red grape, yet extracting its juice with minimal skin contact ensures that the resulting wine is white.) Prosecco is crafted using a grape variety of the same name, also called Glera. That said, other varieties of sparkling wines may also be used along with Prosecco grapes, but no more than 15% in the blend. These varieties include Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
3. Champagne is produced using the traditional method, which is the costliest and most labour-intensive methods of producing sparkling wine. Prosecco is made using tank method, which is more inexpensive. (For knowing more about these methods of production, refer to our previous blog posts on the same.) This is also the reason why Prosecco is more affordable than Champagne.

And now, you hopefully have a much better understanding of what differentiates Champagne from Prosecco!