VIA Verona 2026 Supporter Masterclass: Consorzio Vini Asolo Montello
From Soil to Glass: the beautiful story of Asolo Prosecco DOCG
Gianpaolo Giacobbo Brand Ambassador for the Consorzio presented the session with the support of Alberto Bassi, responsible for Promotion and Communication.
Gianpaolo is from Bassano del Grappa, near Asolo, and he explains that the town of Asolo is a very beautiful place. As far back as 300 years ago, the noble families came here from Venice for the summer to avoid the heat, humidity, and snakes of the Venetian Lagoon. Asolo is halfway between Venice and the Dolomites. The Consorzio was founded in 1985 and currently has one DOC (Montello Asolo) and two DOCGs (Asolo Prosecco, Montello).
Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia both produce Prosecco. Prosecco DOC, Treviso, Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG, Asolo DOCG are all in the wider denomination. Gianpaolo says, "It’s a big lake of Prosecco with two islands (the DOCGs) of quality".
The territory is defined by a line of hills, east to west, created by a tectonic plate shift when the African and European plates collided. The Piave River breaks the area between Asolo and Valdobbiadene. Temperature and humidity and microclimate are like Bordeaux, with a Left Bank and a Right Bank, being two quite different places. Gianpaolo says, "There is more to Prosecco than just light sparkling wine. Location is everything here, with hills, valleys, plains. Montello is a small hill, created by glacier movement. Asolo Montello is the Left Bank. Asolo is more to the west, Montello more to the east. There is a lot of differentiation. Recantina is a rare grape in this area too".
Unofficially, the DOCG area of Asolo Montello can be sub divided into ten parcels, each with different soils and microclimates. He wants to show how these soils give the taste of the soil in the glass.
Asolo is truly surrounded by beauty, and the noble families built beautiful villas, many famous artists came to Asolo to entertain, to decorate the villas, to create works for the nobility. Gianpaolo points out that, "when you are surrounded by beauty, you feel compelled to do your best. The noble families wanted to give their guests the best of everything, oil, cheese, meats, wine. It was the time of Neoclassicism, Palladio the architect and Canova the artist".
The soil has layers of limestone, clay, sedimentary fossils and shells. Soils are rich in salt and minerals. The climate is Mediterranean, influenced by cool winds from Dolomites and warm winds from the Adriatic Sea. Monte Grappa adds a cooling system. It is a place that is almost perfectly moderated, never freezes, never gets too hot, and has a good diurnal change. The area is biodiverse, the focus is on indigenous grapes, olive trees, botanical herbs, and 30% of the territory is forested.
Glera is the key grape. Other old varieties include Verdiso, Bianchetta Trevigiana, Perera, and Glera Lunga. It is now forbidden to plant any new vineyards in this territory unless a vineyard pre-existed on that site. These wines can age surprisingly well due to high acidity, and "if you forget it in your cellar for some years, you find a big surprise!"
Total area of the denomination is 2,271 ht vineyards, with 475 growers, and 30,400,000 bottles in 2025 (Prosecco DOC makes 800 million bottles per year). It’s important to note that 70% of Asolo is exported, mainly to the USA, and only 4 producers make over 1 million bottles each.
The denomination allows both the tank method [dry 17-32 g RS per litre, extra dry, brut, extra brut less than 6 g RS per litre], and the Classic Method, but that is a very niche production in Asolo. Col Fondo is also being made (ancestrale), getting more popular outside Italy – locals always loved it, but young people from other places like it too now. It used to have a bad reputation as "poor people wine", but new market trends have brought it back into production for export.
Everything is hand harvested and the distinguishing features of Asolo include clean white floral notes, fresh zesty citrus, fresh green herbs, and a very rich and saline feel on the palate.
Asolo Manor Asolo Prosecco Superiore DOCG Spumante Brut Nature Millesimato "Figlio della Roccia" 2022, made in a col fondo style, on lees in the bottle, the yeasts are natural stabilizers, it is not filtered. Gianpaolo instructed, "You can shake the bottle and serve it with the sediment in suspension. Or you can let the sediment settle and serve gently only the clear liquid. You can drink from the opening of the bottle (clean and clear) to the end of the bottle (very full of sediment and texture)". Cider apple, medicinal herbal element, chalky texture, fine small perlage, very savory, bitter finish, pale tawny color, cloudy. "Like a liquid salt, very umami, gastronomic". Gianpaolo says it can be aged for years and years, he has tasted 1978 and 1982 vintages.
Sarah points out that not labelling these wines col fondo is a problem for consumers. "Sur Lieviti" is not enough to make this clear. The communication is very confusing. Many labels say nothing about the style, or only sur lieviti on the back label. Gianpaolo says this is the way they have always presented this wine, it’s a "pure" style which he says doesn’t need explanation but the VIA students from other countries disagree, without the information on the bottle, it is very hard to sell, hard to market.
Sarah also says the next 5 wines really show the "premiumization" of Prosecco, with wines that have a fine vigorous mousse, and a sophisticated, savory style.
Bele Casel, Asolo Prosecco Superiore DOCG Spumante Extra Brut Millesimato "Vecchie Uve" 2022. 50-year-old vines at 300m asl. Sour green apple, bitter almond finish, very saline and green olive notes, 12 months on the lees gives a creamy mousse and a sharp saltine cracker crack on the palate. Gianpaolo says we are drinking this too young.
Villa Sandi Asolo Prosecco Superiore DOCG Spumante Extra Brut "Nero" NV. Green apple and white apricot, very floral on the nose, very sea salt flakey, crunchy, with a pleasant and typical bitter wintergreen on the finish.
Tenuta Baron Asolo Prosecco Superiore DOCG Spumante Brut Millesimato 2025. Small producer, like a garden rather than a vineyard. Fresh green herbs and elegant white blossom, green apple, green pear, saline, the extra RS truly balances this wine better than any of the previous ones. Eminently drinkable.
Montelliana Asolo Prosecco Superiore DOCG Spumante Extra Dry "57" NV. A big winery, ‘57 was the year of the foundation of the winery. Aromatic, sweet white peach, more volume on the palate, the RS pushes the aromatics out of solution, although there is a bit of protective winemaking and a note of sulphur that blows off. The citric acidity cleans the palate, assisted by the saline note again. Very much a sweet-sour note, sarde en saor goes perfectly here.
Bedin, Asolo Prosecco Superiore DOCG Spumante Dry Millesimato 2025. Very fruity, red apple skinned, difficult to balance the high residual sugar and the salt. Slightly unbalanced and lower in acidity. Gianpaolo says "I have too much respect for dessert to serve this wine with it. Maybe you can drink this wine later. Or pair it with something a little bit spicy instead. Serve it cold".
Sarah points out that creamy mousse is typically found in classic method wines, and vigorous mousse is typically found in tank method wines. Asolo is gaining popularity as a place name that is recognised and a lot easier to pronounce. Adding the place name in our communications about Prosecco will be more and more important in distinguishing style and quality in the future. The Superiore wines in this flight are all given that title as part of the DOCG, rather than extra aging or extra alcohol. Sarah jokes that, "things don’t always make sense in Italy, and this is an example of that. Here it is simply applicable to a specific small geographical area".
Wines tasted:
1. ASOLO MANOR: Asolo Prosecco Superiore Docg Spumante Brut Nature Millesimato “Figlio della Roccia” 2022
2. BELE CASEL: Asolo Prosecco Superiore Docg Spumante Extra Brut Millesimato “Vecchie Uve” 2022
3. VILLA SANDI: Asolo Prosecco Superiore Docg Spumante Extra Brut “Nero” N.V.
4. TENUTA BARON: Asolo Prosecco Superiore Docg Spumante Brut Millesimato 2025
5. MONTELLIANA: Asolo Prosecco Superiore Docg Spumante Extra Dry “57” N.V.
6. BEDIN: Asolo Prosecco Superiore Docg Spumante Dry Millesimato 2025