Sancho

THIS

Caerus

If the Prosecco producers are so concerned, why are they selling their product in bulk rather than only in bottles. Shouldn't they go after their own members who must be selling the product in kegs? I doubt that the pubs are buying it in bottles and pouring it into kegs. Seems they want to have their wine and drink it too.

37100

They are probably not buying Prosecco, but a local generic, possibly Chardonnay, wine. In this part of Italy, it is quite normal to serve wine this way, but called Vino della Casa frizzante - frizzy house wine.

sunnysider

Mm

I can understand the producers wanting to protect their product and margins if they have a valid legal case.

Me - i'll ponder this in more detail when next in cagliari. Knocking back 15 per cent cannonnau from a tap. At €2.50 a litre - wonderful stuff. Cheaper stuff also available. I rarely buy wine in bottles when in sardinia. By buying this stuff i also maintain green credentials - pedal there and recyle old plastic water bottles, jerry cans, buckets.

jonwel

Actually the article does mention "pseudo-wine pumped with carbon dioxide, as seems to be served in some British pubs" and I think that's nearer the truth.
But I say: bring back real ale! So-called market forces have convinced British consumers that bitter is poor man's lager and that beer in general is poor man's wine. So from good beer we go to crap beer and then crap wine. The important thing is not the quality of the wine but how chic you feel when you drink it...

In GB I drink real beer, in Italy I drink real wine.
I agree with you about cannonau, Sunnysider!

Caerus

If that's the case then I can see their point. I would also think that probably the customer is then getting a cheap Chardonnay priced as a Prosecco. Having read the article again it seems the argument that they use kegs because customers want to buy glasses not bottles doesn't hold water either. Every restaurant/pub that I know of sells glasses of wine from bottles so can't really buy that argument.

sunnysider

My general approach as well. In fact I rarely drink wine in the UK these days.

Lorna at Vicenza

I don't get it. Plenty of Italian bars serve prosecco alla spina. Isn't that like 'on tap'? I've been asked loads of time if I want my prosecco alla spina o bottiglia.

mmmmbuti

Then it's not Prosecco, you can report them for fraud. Real prosecco is DOC and can never be marketed alla spina.

Anyway I am appalled by the quality of wines generally served in UK pubs. On the other hand, I discovered ales and ciders and I love them!

sunnysider

You may have a point mmbuti.

I have noticed that in some of the Italian cantinas (brit plural) I pop to in Italy they sometimes shy away from labelling one of their tap offerings as actually "wine z". I have the impression that this may be because they haven't jumped through all of the regulatory hoops. When asked, though, they might say that it is "like wine z" or of that type. I am no wine conoisseur so am usually perfectly happy.

Wine in brit pubs? Usually now in/from bottles I think. Do you remember the horrors of stowells of chelsea? I was never sure which part of the chelsea foreshore it crawled from.

Are you Italian?

Lorna at Vicenza

I never knew that. I always take my prosecco straight from the bottle.
Don't drink wine in UK pubs, I drink cider.

jonwel

That's quite possible. You can sometimes find an excellent wine in these cases; other times it's just a headache waiting to happen. You have to learn by experience. If you go to a cantina frequented by locals and show you know something, they should serve something decent - they've got a reputation to look after!

I'm not a great prosecco drinker, but I would only ever have it from a bottle! I far prefer a still red, but in general wine goes with food as far as I'm concerned.

37100

Yeap. A lot of wines can't be sold on tap. Soave cannot be label as such so it will often just be given a generic name or Garganega - the name of the grape used to make it.

37100

P.s. Fizzy wine. I don't like Muller Thurgau that much, but I do like Muller Thurgau 650. - made from grapes grown at a higher altitude. Try it if you can find it, Lorna. If not, pop round and I'll offer you a glass - if I haven't drunk it all.

sunnysider

My favourite one doesn't even have a sign - you'd walk right past it - in fact i introduced a local wine fan to it.

I've always seen prosecco as light enjoyable fizz so am not bothered about it being seen as a sophisticated example. No great fan of champagne either and have drunk a fair bit in my time.

Here's to cheap unpretentious wine.