LUNETTA PROSECCO…a perfect diversion

Okay. So 2020 isn’t working out quite the way we had planned or hoped. That doesn’t give anyone a reason to hide his collective head in some trash bin and just wait around for the new year to explode. On the contrary, this is the dawn. It is Autumn. A new year is coming. Time to plan and we have the right, no, the obligation to look forward with optimism, to take on the new challenges. Time to work on all those resolutions which we’ll break in the next two hours. Time to set a course for our own lives as well as the lives of our loved ones. And we usually do that by basing the new on the old. By addressing our past and boldly going into the future accompanied by a few old friends and making some new ones. Believe it or not, we still have some time for that as we just now are beginning to settle into the cooler side of the year.

Prosecco says CELEBRATION. The most produced sparkling wine in Italy, it is usually based in a pinot grigio so the flavor is bold and fresh but very dry. Drier, in fact than its French cousin, champagne. Made from the grape now known as Glera (formerly known as prosecco but name changed in 2009) Lunetta is a little fruity tasting but as I said above dry. The bubble content is very high, kind of like a newly opened bottle of soda with a surprising tickle on both the palate and the nose.

Prosecco is produced in the nine provinces in Italy spanning Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia Regions and is named after the village of Prosecco. Up until the 1960’s it was pretty sweet and not really in favor, so very little was produced. In fact, it was fairly close to another sparkling wine, Asti, also considered sweet. Since then however, production techniques have been both revamped and perfected, in part to compete with Champagne, which was far more popular and more widely consumed. As a result, Prosecco is now a major player in the sparkling wine arena.

Price is a usual consideration when purchasing wine, especially sparkling wine, since it is less thought of as an everyday drink. Using a method called Charmat-Martinotti, a method where the secondary fermentation takes place in steel tanks rather than in bottles, tends to keep the price lower than that of similar champagnes. This is also done to preserve freshness as this is a lighter sparkling wine. But make no mistake, there is quality in each bottle whether you prefer Brut or Extra dry, which is slightly sweeter

Field at the Cavit Winery

Lunetta, translated as “Little moon” is produced by the Cavit winery located in Northern Italy. This winery really is mostly known for its pinot grigio, and you can taste that influence here. Hints of ripe apple and peach give way to a very crisp, clean taste, light enough to enjoy with food or on its own. I would say though that it is best with a meal of light fish, like a broiled trout or flounder to enhance those flavors, rather than overtake them. This is a very delicate drink, so it would also pair well with light appetizers, hors d’oeuvres or possibly shellfish. You can almost picture standing among friends, skewered shrimp in one hand, a glass of prosecco in the other. A pale straw color gives way to an effervescence and a freshness which then exhorts a party-like atmosphere that only a “bubbly” can bring to your table. Celebration is the name of the game here.

Wine Enthusiast gave this a rating of 86 points while stating that it has all the fresh fruit flavors you would expect. With an alcohol rating of 11.5% this is a sparkling wine that does satisfy. A tad on the sweet side, but with an unmistakable lean toward dryness, this is a good value wine in the $13 range.

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