Match of the week

Prosecco and burrata

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on October 13 2022 at 17:24

I wonder how many people think about food when they’re drinking prosecco. Not many, I suspect. Given the comparative sweetness of most bottles I certainly tend to think in terms of sweet dishes as much as savoury ones as you can see from this post. Teatime seems to me the perfect occasion to drink it.

But prosecco is getting drier as I discovered at a recent tasting and lunch at Eataly hosted by the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG and therefore rather more versatile

We sipped the producers’ proseccos with octopus, risotto and tiramisu but the pairing that stood out for me with the drier proseccos was a Caprese salad of burrata with tomatoes and basil. Most prosecco I think would struggles with tomato but it was the creamy burrata that really kicked the pairing into touch. (Mozzarella would work too though isn't quite as luxuriantly creamy.)

Confusingly the description Extra Dry on a bottle doesn’t actually mean that, in fact it indicates the wine is on the sweeter side. You need to look out for the designation extra brut which applies to proseccos that have less than 6g of added sugar. Three that worked particularly well were the Biancavigna Rive di Soligo Extra Brut 2021 (1.5g), the La Tordera ‘Otreval’ Rive di Guia Brut 2021 (0g) and the Sorelle Brona ‘Particella 68’ Rive di Colbertaldo Brut 2021 (6g). (Rive are the equivalent of crus - specific areas which are designated as higher quality.)

By the way, note the recent vintages. Prosecco is released quite young which adds to its freshness.

What sort of food to pair with prosecco?

I attended the lunch as a guest of the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG

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