Prosecco Wine Road in Italy: Wine Tasting Weekend in the Prosecco Hills (Part 1)

We're spending three full days in one of Italy's most iconic wine regions, the Prosecco Hills of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene, home to the highest quality Prosecco in the world, the Prosecco Superiore DOCG. This area is more than just beautiful, it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site filled with steep hillside vineyards, family-run wineries, and some of the best bubbles you'll ever taste. We're diving into vineyard tours and wine tastings, while of course seeing some of the sights along the way. This trip is packed with inspiration for your own Prosecco adventure. Let's get sipsy, y'all! Before we start our wine-filled weekend, we're going to give you a crash course in Prosecco. If you want to skip ahead to the wine, go to this timestamp here. Let's talk Prosecco, because if you think it's just Italian champagne, you're missing all of the magic. Prosecco is one of the world's most loved sparkling wines, but its roots go way back to over 2,000 years ago. Pliny the Elder, the Italian author who was a lover of all things alcohol and who also lends his name to a well-known California beer, once praised a wine called Vinum Puccinum, which many believe was the OG Prosecco. It was fresh, fizzy, and considered medicinal. Same, Pliny, same. Fast forward to 1800 and things start getting modern. That's when the the one and only base of Prosecco was officially classified and widely planted in northern Italy. Now, here's the game changer. While champagne gets its bubbles in the bottle, Prosecco uses something called the Charmin method, or simply the tank method. It's a second fermentation, just like champagne, but it's done in a stainless steel tank instead of in the bottle. This process keeps it crisp, fruity, and much more affordable. In 2009, Italy said, let's protect the good stuff. That's when the Prosecco Superiore DOCG status was born, reserved only for wines made in the hills between Conegliano and Valdobbiadene. This is the Prosecco Wine Trail, Italy's first official wine road created in 1966. It winds about 90 kilometers through hilltop towns, where local producers still hand-pick every single grape. It's not just wine, it's cultural heritage in a bottle. Let's decode those wine labels real quick. Italy uses a classification system, and Prosecco wears it very proudly. DOCG is the top tier. Think very strict rules, hand harvesting, and grapes coming from specific hillsides only. That's the Prosecco Superiore DOCG. DOC is still high quality, just with a little bit more flexibility. Then you have the IGT and the VDT. Those are really just your everyday table wines. Want the full breakdown? We made a complete, no-nonsense guide on our blog, and we'll leave a link to that in the description below. And now for the juicy question, how sweet is Prosecco? Here's where things get, well, backwards. Extra Brut is bone dry. Brut means crispy, classic, and dry. Extra Dry is kind of sweet, yeah I know, and dry actually is the sweetest. So if you're craving something refreshing with zero sugar, you want to go Extra Brut. But if you want something a little bit fruitier, Extra Dry is your friend. We are kicking off our first tasting here in the Prosecco Hills at Manisage. I'm pretty sure it's how you pronounce it. So this tasting is absolutely astounding. It was 25 euros per person, and this is the first pour of four. The reason we ended up starting with them is because they offer a night tasting that starts at 6 p.m., which was perfect because we needed to work earlier today. So far we're just on glass one, and I've already told Chris I'm never leaving this region. You can just send my stuff up here because I think bubbles are the answer to everything. Continuing our tasting with Marco, who is currently the owner. This winery has been in his family for generations. They're especially known for their Rive Prosecco Superiore DOCG, whose grapes come from a steep hillside plot that are hand harvested. It's small production, high quality, and honestly it's the perfect way to kick things off here. So we just got the most incredible meat and cheese board, and if this is what every tasting board is going to be like this weekend, we're going to be so full of meats and cheeses. Also, first taste of bubbles. Wow. Maybe I'm just awestruck because the scenery is absolutely gorgeous, but I am loving this glass that I'm having. Glass number two is a Rosé Brut. I don't even have the words for it. It is delicate, and it's light, and it pairs beautifully with the mountains behind me, especially on this hot day. Now the reason that we are inside today is because Italy is having a substantial heat wave. So it's in the 90s, even though it's six o'clock. So we are here in the air conditioning, and I am so excited to see all the different types of wineries that we're going to get into this weekend. We are ending here on the Extra Dry Prosecco, which remember is the most sweet of the wines that we have had tonight. We tend to prefer a little bit less sweet wines and less sugar in our wines. It's still very good, bright, acidic, and a good end to it. It's kind of a good dessert wine. Overall, this place is absolutely amazing. It's beautiful. Tasting room is amazing. It feels like we're just sitting in a living room. You're looking out at mountains and rolling hills, these steep, steep vineyards. It's going to be a tough act to follow. We've got seven more wineries, but we're up for the challenge. You're going to see us with these big glasses this weekend, and one of us who's going to draw the short straw, probably Chris, will not be able to enjoy all the glasses. He will be spitting or dumping, and we're not going to show that on camera for tonight. I think I'll be the one that didn't draw the short straw because this is really good. Now, a little background on this area and what the term Rive means. We just mentioned it. You're going to hear it a lot through this video. It's really specific for this region. Rive is a word from the Venetian dialect that means bank or slope. The grapes that get classified with this Rive term come from these vineyards on these steep slopes. Long story short, it's really good wine that's expertly cared for. I won the straws. What you got there? Stop one of eight and bottle one of who knows how many. He seems to think that when we do these that we're not going to buy bottles. I still haven't figured out quite why he thinks that. If he's just wishful thinking. When y'all travel to wine regions, let me know in the comments how many bottles of wine do you buy? That's fine. If we drank them at home, that would be great, but we do not do that at home because we're always traveling and doing other stuff, so we have a copious amount of wine bottles and alcohol in our house. Well, we will just have to have people over to help us drink. That's fine. Come and visit. Also note, this place has rooms where you can stay. They have five rooms that you can rent, so if you want to come stay here, highly recommend it. This view is absolutely gorgeous. Good morning. Chris had to work this morning. I don't work until the afternoons, so I'm going to go explore for a little bit, and I'm going to go ahead and drive about 15 minutes north, go check out an itty bitty town. I made it to this adorable little town called Polina, and as you can see, it's the base of the mountains here. As I was driving in, I saw a market. I'm going to go see if I can find it. I think I'm the only non-local today. Everyone, as I passed all these beautiful stalls and shops, they're looking at me like, who is this person? What a charming town that was. So there's another town up the road. I saw it on the map, and I want to go check that one out, too. I'm probably going to butch the name of this town. It's Chizanti del Marino. I think it is absolutely adorable. There is water that's running right through the middle of town, and it's so quaint and quiet. It's very hilly, but it's absolutely beautiful. Just walking around. No real destination. It was only a five-minute drive up here from Polina, and so far, I'm loving it. Right behind this incredible church over here on the hill, I don't know if you guys can see it, but it's a castle. This castle has been turned into a luxury hotel and spa. This place, it's incredible. It's like I've been plucked out of reality and into the most tranquil, surreal fairy tale. I absolutely love it, and I think I'm the only person that doesn't live here. I'm gonna go ahead, and I need to start heading back to the Airbnb so I can get ready for work, and then we're gonna get off work, and we have another tasting lined up for tonight. We are off of work. We have a 5.30 tasting, which is only five minutes away, and we are heading there right now. Day two of our Prosecco adventure, and we're diving into the world of organic bubbles here at Perlage Winery, and no, this is not just your average eco-label. These guys were going green way back when, before it was even cool. You see, back in the 80s, when everyone else was still spraying chemicals like it was confetti, the Nardi family decided to take a different approach. Seven brothers, yep, seven, that poor mother, converted their historic vineyard, Riva Moretta, there's that Rive term again, into one of Italy's first certified organic Prosecco producers. This is Prosecco with a purpose, made with integrity, all without sacrificing flavor. Let's head inside to see what this place is all about. We went for their basic tasting at 12 euros per person, which included four DOCG pours, and let me tell you right now, that was a steal for how much variety and insight we got. Every glass a little different in style, and they really catered it right to what we wanted. We're actually with the third generation owner, and we're going through a tasting. We told him we're not the biggest fans of the dry, which remember, dry means sweeter, and we're doing a no sugar Prosecco right now. I've never had a no sugar Prosecco, which means less of a hangover, and I think I'm in love. This tasting is the perfect way to explore the unique flavors and styles of Prosecco DOCG, while getting a true taste of what makes these hills so special. Look what we got. Chris is like so shocked that we got another bottle. Bottle number two. Stop number two. This is a problem. The best problem. We ended up downtown. We're at Pieve di Solijo. Fairly confident in that one. We just parked the car. We're gonna head to an Enoteca. Come here real quick. How do you say Pieve di Solijo? Solijo. Pieve di Solijo. So close. So close. All right, let's go find a bar. A glass of Prosecco here is $2.50 y'all. I think I'm gonna move here. So I looked this place up online, and they have really good reviews. We came downstairs to get here. It's a basement charcoal cantina in Italiano, and we're in this beautiful little cantina, and it's nice and cold, which is so delightful given how warm it is outside. And we just got two glasses of an extra brute Prosecco. Waiting on that. We're gonna have a little aperitivo, and then I think we're gonna go home because we have a pretty big day tomorrow. I'm excited about the bubbles, and Chris is excited about the olives. How is it? Tomorrow we're gonna be hitting three wineries in one day. So we're gonna head home, and we're gonna get ready for a full-on Prosecco marathon tomorrow. Good night! Good morning! It's a full day of Prosecco tasting today. Since we are staying in the middle of this iconic region, we are tackling the area over the next two days. We'll focus our tastings closer to Conigliano today. And first up on today's itinerary is Il Colle. We're starting the day at Il Colle. The Ceschini family has been making wine since the 70s, but their roots go all the way back to the 1700s. This family has built something really special here, working with over 50 local growers and producing everything from everyday Prosecco to its single vineyard Rive wine and even an organic bottle. If you visit, they offer tastings starting at just 20 euros per person, which includes three Proseccos and the most delectable snacks. All right, so the first round of bubbles is almost over, and we are just getting started. That tasting was great, and something really unique I wanted to just point out is that they're letting us pick the Prosecco that we want to try, and it is making the world of difference. We were talking about this while we were sitting there. We've done so many tastings, and we've never really gotten to pick our tastings. I can literally count maybe five or six tastings that have allowed us to do that, so we've absolutely loved this experience. We are going to drive a quick 30 minutes north to go take in some different views. So like I knew this was going to be gorgeous. Y'all, oh my god, this is beautiful. Despite me wanting to live there, we do have other tastings scheduled, so we're going to head back in the direction in which we came to do our next tasting. We just left Le Manzane. Wasn't our favorite. A couple different factors. As I was editing this section, I just wanted to go ahead and explain what I was trying to say, because I really didn't do a good job. So at this particular winery, we were on a time crunch. So when we were served the flat Prosecco, we didn't say anything, because we were worried that it was going to take us longer, and we were going to be very late to the next tasting. In hindsight, we both said we wish we had said something, because we wanted to taste the wines while we had the reservation in the first place, but we had opted not to say anything. So with that being said, I'm gonna take it back to Sam so that she can tell you what happened. All of the bottles that we had had been opened. Not normally a problem, but the first and last glasses we thought were flat. Unfortunately, we were kind of on a time crunch, because I didn't realize that when I booked a 30-minute tasting, that 30 minutes in Italian terms was gonna be an hour. We have a two, and then we have a three, and I thought the half-hour tasting was gonna be enough, and it definitely was not. If you're coming to the region, go there, test it out for yourself. Don't just take our word for it. As always, just because it wasn't right for us, doesn't mean it's not gonna be perfect for you guys. We are heading to a very, very small vineyard. So we went from one of the largest ones that we've been to so far to a very, very small one, and we are hoping that the rain holds out, because the tasting is supposed to be Founded in 1945, Tenuta San Benedetto is a family-owned winery, and they've been making wine here for generations, keeping all those classic winemaking traditions alive. They focus primarily on Prosecco Superiore Extra Dry, known for its balance and elegance. You can taste their frizzante and other sparkling styles, depending on the season. If you visit, you can tour the cellar, taste various wines, and truly experience how the land, process, and the people come together to create a bottle that's as local as it gets. That place was incredible. They're really, really small. Like, they produce only a couple thousand bottles a year. I had emailed this winery, and the son who runs it is unfortunately out of town right now. We just did the tasting with his parents, who speak zero English, and as you guys know, we are learning Italian. It was absolutely phenomenal. It was just, it was a really lovely time. We ended up getting another bottle, which Chris is thrilled. He's thrilled. That's a wrap on part one of our Prosecco adventure, but don't go too far. We're heading deeper into the hills as we make our way to Valdobbiadene, where the vineyards are steeper, the views are unreal, and the Prosecco, even more expressive. So make sure you're subscribed and hit that bell, because part two is coming soon, and trust us, it's pure bubbly gold. We'll see y'all soon.