Steel, Bubbles, and Fruit: Inside the Making of Prosecco

What makes Prosecco so different from Champagne or Cava?

 In this episode, Andreea takes you inside the tanks (almost literally) to explore the Charmat method, the clever bit of winemaking engineering that gives Prosecco its bright, floral personality.

We’ll look at how Glera grapes, stainless-steel pressure tanks, and precise temperature control create a wine built on freshness rather than aging. You’ll learn what “tirage” and “dosage” mean in Prosecco, why it skips lees aging, and how its chemistry translates into texture, aroma, and food pairing magic.

By the end, you’ll know exactly why those bubbles feel lighter, taste fruitier, and disappear a little faster — and why that’s the whole point.

Glossary

• Charmat (Martinotti) Method:
  The tank-fermentation process used for most Prosecco, where the second fermentation happens in a sealed stainless-steel tank rather than in the bottle.
• Tirage:
  A mixture of sugar and yeast added to the base wine to start the secondary fermentation.
• Dosage:
  A small addition of sugar or sweetened wine used to adjust the final sweetness level of sparkling wine (Brut, Extra Dry, Dry).
• Lees:
  The spent yeast cells left after fermentation. Prosecco is typically filtered off the lees quickly, preserving freshness.
• Glera:
  The main grape variety used for Prosecco — formerly called “Prosecco” until the DOCG rules renamed it.
• Autolysis:
  The breakdown of yeast cells during extended lees aging, responsible for the toasty and bready notes in Champagne — largely absent in Prosecco.
• Isobaric Bottling:
  Bottling under equal pressure to retain dissolved CO₂ and prevent the wine from losing its sparkle.