Prosecco is more and more popular in Hungary too. Light, fresh and elegant, for many people it has become the natural drink for festive or friendly toasts. Fewer people know, though, that the Glera grape behind prosecco has a long historical, scientific and viticultural journey behind it.
That journey ran for centuries, from the first written mentions to the birth of the modern DOC and DOCG system. And as with many great wines, people, landscapes, debates, discoveries and persistent work shaped what we know today as prosecco.
"I'd like to wet my throat with that apple-scented prosecco." – Aureliano Acanti, Roccolo, 1754
This quote is probably one of the oldest known written mentions of prosecco in the Veneto. It was known back then, and loved back then. But the grape that today makes one of the world's most popular sparkling wines took a long and winding road before it earned its current name and identity.
The hills of the Veneto and a world of fifty grape varieties
The hill country of the province of Treviso – especially around Valdobbiadene and Conegliano – has been an important wine-growing area for centuries. The medieval town statutes of Conegliano already regulated the protection of vineyards and the sale of wine in 1282.
At the end of the 16th century, the work The Natural History of Wines, published in 1596, considered the local white wines worthy of Europe's princely tables.
But the region's development was not a straight line. By the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, local farming had become uncertain in many ways. The great frost of 1709 destroyed huge numbers of vines, and they were often replaced with lower-quality varieties.
In their 1874 work, Angelo Vianello and Antonio Carpenè bitterly noted that local farmers' traditional vineyards could hold as many as 50 different grape varieties growing side by side, completely mixed up.
The most common included Verdiso, Bianchetta and Marzemino, but the grape called prosecco was already among them.
According to Villafranchi's description from 1773, the variety probably came from the Carso area near Trieste, from the village there called Prosecco, where the grape had long been known as Glera. It only began to be grown on the hills of Conegliano at the end of the 18th or the beginning of the 19th century.
Because the name "prosecco" also spread to other regions in the meantime, its use stayed confused for a long time.
1868: the Oenological Society and the rise of prosecco
The decisive turn came in 1868, when Antonio Carpenè and Abbot Felice Benedetti founded the Treviso Oenological Society in Conegliano.
The Society's goal was to put winemaking on a scientific footing. Glera – then called Prosecco – was seen as one of the most promising grape varieties of the hills.
Production figures from 1874 show that the variety already played a serious role in the region:
Conegliano: 798 hl
Valdobbiadene: 2,270 hl
Asolo: 641 hl
Across the four districts, about 3,700 hectolitres of prosecco were produced in total. Valdobbiadene's dominance was already striking, and it was no accident: the area's conditions were outstanding for the variety.
1878: Count Balbi and the discovery of the ideal variant
One of the most important figures in the story was Count Marco Giulio Balbi Valier. Among the different prosecco variants he identified a special type: round berries, loose bunches, a finer taste and a distinctly aromatic character.
He began to spread this variant on the hills of Solighetto, and it was named Prosecco Balbi after him.
At the meeting of the Oenological Society in Conegliano on 23 June 1878, Professor Cerletti stated clearly that Prosecco Balbi was the local variant that gave the best results. Other experts – including Zava and Righini – confirmed this assessment for the Vittorio Veneto and Valdobbiadene districts.
At the same time, Prosecco Lungo also became known, a variant with longer bunches and bigger berries. There were also Prosecco Bianco Tondo, Prosecco Rosa Lungo and a fourth local variant, Prosecco Nostrano, which disappeared from the vineyards over time.
1937: Dalmasso clears things up
Almost sixty years later, in 1937, Giovanni Dalmasso brought order to the different prosecco variants in his study of the white wines of the Treviso hills.
He found that prosecco had many false variants, but only two of them could be considered true Prosecco:
Prosecco Lungo
Prosecco Tondo, that is, Balbi
The Experimental Viticulture Institute in Conegliano – today called CREA-VE – later identified the two main variants precisely through DNA analysis and detailed ampelographic studies.
Prosecco Tondo, today's Glera
Prosecco Tondo, also known as Balbi, is the basis of today's Glera. It is practically an aromatic variety, and its high levels of linalool, nerol and geraniol contribute greatly to prosecco's typical floral-fruity aroma.
Prosecco Lungo
Prosecco Lungo is a less aromatic variant, although its geraniol content is also significant. It has longer bunches and bigger berries, and its character differs from the best-known Glera.
Glera Lunga – long-bunched variant
Glera Tonda – today's Glera, the aromatic variant
How is Glera grown?
Glera is a vigorous grape variety, which is both an advantage and a challenge. It tends to upset the balance between growth and crop, so the right pruning and training are especially important.
Several training systems have traditionally been used in the region:
- Sylvoz: mainly in more productive, lower hillside vineyards
- Cappuccina: on higher, steeper slopes
- Guyot: increasingly common, especially where quality comes first
The site plays a decisive role in Glera's character. North-facing slopes give higher acidity, while higher vineyards produce more aromatic, sweeter grapes.
This explains why the steep, hand-harvested vineyards – today's Rive areas – give the best fruit for more characterful prosecco.
The age of the vineyards matters too. The custom in the region is not to replant the whole vineyard at once but to replace only the old vines. As a result, the average vine age is around 50 years, an important basis for quality and consistency.
Why did Glera have to be renamed?
One of the most interesting paradoxes of prosecco's success is its name.
Because "prosecco" was originally the name of a grape variety, and the variety could be grown in other regions too – on plains, even in other provinces – after a while anyone could put "prosecco" on their bottle, regardless of where the grapes came from or what quality of wine was made from them.
This seriously threatened the centuries-old reputation of the Conegliano–Valdobbiadene region.
The solution came in 2009: the grape got back the name Glera, and from then on the name "prosecco" can only be used for wine made in a defined area under defined rules.
This created today's Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG and the wider Prosecco DOC system.
So if you're looking for authentic prosecco today, the name alone isn't enough. The DOCG or DOC designation is what guarantees a true, regulated expression of the Glera grape.
Wineries such as Borgo Antico and Toni Doro, from the Conegliano area, stand for exactly this kind of authentic, place-bound quality.
Today the region has about 8,500 hectares of DOCG and 31,000 hectares of DOC vineyards – almost a third of the Veneto's total vineyard area.
In short
Glera's journey from a village near Trieste, across the hills of the Veneto, to one of the world's best-known sparkling wines did not happen overnight.
Centuries of viticultural knowledge, scientific curiosity, a count's passion and deep commitment to the land made it what it is today.
Next time you pour yourself a glass of Prosecco Superiore DOCG, think of Count Balbi and Professor Cerletti – the people who recognised as early as 1878 that this is the grape the best prosecco can be made from.