Happy Prosecco Day! Not so long ago, Champagne was the sparkling wine. Everything else was considered cheaper, inferior and not the real McCoy.
Yet, some strategic PR and tactful marketing made prosecco the go-to fizzy wine – the Italian winemakers worked hard for it.
The origins
Much like Champagne only being able to be called Champagne if it’s made in the Champagne region of France (did we say it enough times?), Italian winemakers wanted the same for Prosecco.
To claim Prosecco could only come from their region, the winemakers applied for a DOC, an appellation to protect the name so others couldn’t use the name. However, at the time, Prosecco was just the type of grape and so the DOC was denied. Far from stopping at such a hurdle, the winemakers changed the name of the grape to Glera, a local nickname, and renamed the entire region to Prosecco in 2009.
The DOC was granted. Prosecco can now only bear the name if it is produced in Veneto or Friuli-Venezia Giulia, the ‘Prosecco’ regions.
Strategic PR
They had the drink, they had the name, now it was time to carve it into a brand. Paired with a story of the Italian lifestyle ‘joy, celebration, and the zest for life that Italians are renowned for’. Prosecco carefully tread the line between being affordable and available for the masses, yet classy and sophisticated. This strategy fizzed Prosecco to the top of consumers’ minds and drinks orders. The light, fruity and palatable taste didn’t hurt either.
Premium Prosecco brand Bella Principessa sell the dream through tag lines such as ‘Every Sip Tells A Story. Drinking Is Generic, But To Sparkle Is Magical’. Their website claims you will get your happily ever after if you drink Bella Principessa, as well as it being a ‘fashion accessory’ and ‘timeless elegance’.
Prosecco now sells more bottles than champagne and cava combined according to Forbes.
Disgruntled marketing
Now fully established and a successful global bestseller, Prosecco has become almost synonymous with any sparkling wine. Prosecco DOC consortium was not happy about this and went as far as placing 880 strongly worded ads on the tube at Christmas stating ‘This is not prosecco, do not call it prosecco if it is a common effervescent wine’. The educational message is that Prosecco can only be served in a bottle, if it comes from a tap or a barrel it is merely sparkling wine.
“The great value of Italian viticulture lies in the close and intimate link between the vine and genius loci. It is clear that this cannot be replicated and any attempt at imitation or evocation of the name must be strongly opposed. No other wine experience can boast our name,” Mr Tomasi told The Telegraph.
Well, there you have it, cheers to that.
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