One man’s meat etc. While Champagne sales are down 45% worldwide, exports of Prosecco, the Italian sparkling wine made by the Charmat method (essentially a second fermentation in stainless steel controlled by temperature) are robust with exports up 8%. As Enrico Dini, export manager for Astoria Lounge Prosecco launched earlier this evening at the in-store Tapas Bar of the all singing, all dancing Woolworths Melrose Arch, put it “if you have a party and replace Champagne with something else, people think you’re cheap. If you replace it with Prosecco, they think you’re trendy.” The love of money is the root of all evil and this one too. As Woolies wine buyer Ivan Oertle put it “whose got R400 for a bottle of Veuve in this economic climate when Astoria Lounge costs R80?”

Ivan and Astoria president Giorgio Polegato

Italy is the largest component of the Woolies contingent of imported wines, so Prosecco makes sense. Ivan again: “Prosecco is not as snobbish as Champagne.” For Enrico, jolling in Jozi is a coming home of sorts. Born near Sao Paulo, Brazil, the family emigrated to SA when Enrico was four because of health issues. Dad ended up owning a couple of Italian restaurants in town and Enrico only returned to the Old Country when he was 18. “My sister worked at Woolies in her holidays” he remembers. Being able to speak English, German and Afrikaans secured him a job in a wine export company and today home is Valdobbiadene, between Venice and the Alps.

Enrico

So what does Astoria Lounge taste like? It is made from a green grape confusingly called Prosecco with a touch of Chardonnay. Light, zippy and fresh. With only 11% alcohol, it’s far lighter than most local Méthode Cap Classique sparklers. The flavours are fine and floral and the “perlage are very fine and persistent”, whatever they are. Prosecco also has diuretic properties (like beer) so I’ll be buying mine and sending the bill to Discovery Health as a prophylactic against kidney stones.

Importer Lorenzo Gabba

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