A creamy sauce made with braised fennel, orange, pancetta, and shrimp is a decadent match for Duca di Dolle BRT Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Superiore Brut. Plus, discover #WhatsYourProseccoSuperioreStyle and win.

– SPONSORED POST –

It’s always exciting when I conceive of a pairing, and it turns out EVEN MORE delicious than I expected. 

I created this recipe for a partnership with Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG for an Instagram post to help spread the word about a recipe contest that’s currently underway –– scroll down for details. The pairing turned out so well that I just had to share it here as well. 

I’ve shared several posts in the past detailing the Prosecco quality pyramid, check out this post for more background. To put it simply though, Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG is the original production zone and historical home of Prosecco. It’s a much, much smaller region than the wider Prosecco DOC area, which spans nine provinces in Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia regions. By comparison, wine under the Superiore DOCG zone must come from one of 15 small, specific communes. To make a long story short, over time, the Prosecco zone was widened so that producers could grow more grapes to keep up with demand, but the highest quality wine still comes from grapes grown in the steeply hilly terrain of the original, historical growing area. 

My task was to create a recipe to match Duca di Dolle BRT Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Superiore Brut. Many people might realize it, but Prosecco comes in a full range of sweetness levels ranging from Extra Brut, Brut, Extra Dry, and Dry. Here are the details on the grams of residual sugar per liter  for each of these typologies: 

Extra Brut:  0 - 6 g/l

Brut: 0-12 g/l

Extra Dry: 12-17 g/l 

Dry: 17-32 g/l 

This wine is Brut which is intended to be a crowd-pleasing style that can work easily throughout a meal. When comparing it to traditional method sparkling wines, like Champagne, the main flavor difference is that they will not have the toasty, nutty, brioche notes that you’ll find in those wines. The production method used to make these wines, known as the Martinotti or Charmat method, instead highlights the aromatics of the grapes themselves, bringing out the fruit and floral notes, as well as light hints of herbal flavors. The Brut style will show off the more vibrant citrusy aspects of Glera, the grape of Prosecco,  along with lightly herbal notes, all will a fresh, crisp finish. 

Duca di Dolle 

Blend: 90% Glera, 5% Verdiso, 5% Perera  |  Average Price: $10 | Abv: 11.5%

Duca di Dolle is a young, sustainably-minded company owned by the Baccini family. All grapes are grown on their 100-hectare estate (25 hectares are dedicated to vineyards, and 75 are woodlands and meadows) located in Rolle, in the municipality of Cison di Valmarino. The estate also boasts a 16th-century monastery that has been converted to a relais to host guests. 

When we opened the Duca di Dolle BRT Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Superiore Brut we were greeted with aromas of white flowers, lemons, white peach, and minerals on the nose. The fresh white flowers and crisp fruit notes continued on the palate, and the minerality turned into pronounced salinity. It was a very elegant and refreshing wine.

Find additional details on this wine here.

The Pairing:  Creamy Fennel Pasta with Orange and Shrimp 

Several ideas wound themselves together when I was conceiving a pairing for this wine. In the past, I’ve had good luck pairing Prosecco Superiore DOCG with Pasta Carbonara, and the Brut style works particularly well with creamy dishes since the bright citrusy notes help to cut through the unctuous quality of these types of dishes. At the same time, I was thinking that the combination of fennel and herbal would highlight the fruity, floral, and herbal notes in the wine. If I brought in a seafood element, like shrimp, it might also serve to tease out more of the wine’s minerality. I decided to put it all together.

I took inspiration from a recipe my husband and I fell in love with a while ago for Fennel Braised in Cream from Gabrielle Hamilton’s Prune cookbook. Through this recipe, we discovered the delicious caramelized flavors that can come from fennel when it’s been cooked slowly and just how magically those flavors can work with cream. 

Putting it all of these ideas together, I decided to chop up the fennel and cook it stove-top and basically treated them like I would onions that were being caramelized, adding orange juice during the cooking process. Toward the end of cooking, I added Parmesan, cream, and shrimp then topped it all with pancetta, and tossed it all with fresh linguini. The results were incredibly decadent. We could not get enough and it was fabulous with the wine! The bright, crisp fruit and saline minerality cut right through the richness of the pasta dish and highlighted the citrus and herbal notes from the orange and fennel.   

Scroll down for the recipe. 

#WhatsYourProseccoSuperioreStyle Recipe Contest

As I alluded to earlier, I created this dish for an Instagram post promoting a contest Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG is having to promote the food friendliness and versatility of the wines, in addition to highlighting the different typologies, or categories. 

There are still a few more days left in the contest period, and it’s open for anyone in the US to participate. Simply put, all you have to do is create a recipe – it can be SUPER simple – and share it on Instagram. 

That’s the basic gist, now here are the detailed instructions: 

·  Post a recipe by 11/13/22 featuring wine from Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG – be sure to check the label! Static images and videos are both fine. The full recipe can be shared via the post, or the post can point to a blog post with the complete instructions.

·  Get to know the typologies. Wines should be from the Extra Brut, Brut Millesimato, or Extra Dry typologies, and let us know why you love that style. Find more details on each at www.prosecco.it/en .

·  A successful entry will: A successful entry will: 

1) Share information on the typology. 

2) Describe why the pairing works. 

3) If you use a glass in the shoot, please be sure it is an all purpose white wine glass – it’s best for releasing the wine’s aromas. 

4) Tag @proseccocv, the respective producer, and @alltheswirl. 

#proseccosuperiore

#proseccoelevated

#coneglianovaldobbiadene

#alltheswirl

#whatsyourproseccosuperiorestyle

MUST BE OVER 21 TO ENTER

A winner for each of the 3 typologies will be announced in December.

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Check out these posts for more on Prosecco:

• Three Nights of Prosecco Holiday Fun: Carbonara, Sabering, Friends, with a Side of Pear Endive Spears
  
• Cooking to the Wine: Sorelle Bronca Extra-Dry Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Superiore DOCG with Poached Chicken with Pears and Gorgonzola
  
• The Wide World of Italian Bubblies
• Wine Geek Thanksgiving
  
• Around the World Pét-Nat Party!
  
• Italian Wine 101 Cheat Sheet
  

A bottle of rich Cremant d'Alsace from Pierre Sparr makes an excellent accompaniment for an elaborate cheese and charcuterie spread.

This bottle was provided as a media sample. As usual, all opinions are my own and no other compensation was received. 

We’ve started an accidental trend of bringing bottles of Cremant d’Alsace on vacations. Last year I shared two bottles that went on the road with us, and we recently continued the tradition by taking a bottle of Pierre Sparr Cremant d'Alsace Brut Reserve to share with friends at the Culinary Cabin in Tahoe. 

Our trips to the Culinary Cabin are epic feasts that go on for days. Occasionally, our friends Lucy and Drew invite us, along with a few other friends, to their family’s vacation house for little getaways that basically turn into cooking camp where we all switch off making amazing meals. In addition, there are often some pretty delicious cheese hours – happy hour, but with cheese. Our friends Dee and Drew joined in on the most recent trip, and these two turn out some phenomenal cheese spreads. (That’s not a typo, they’re both Drews. We refer to them as Northern Drew and Southern Drew respectively based on where in the state they live.) When combined with the tidbits and extra treats that the rest of us added in, the cheese hours were taken to another level this trip. 

In addition to a slew of cheeses, we also had quite a bit of charcuterie, condiments, and other goodies like olives on the table. On the night we opened the bottle of Pierre Sparr, Northern Drew also conjured up a couple of extra appetizers with the other guys as sous chefs to enjoy including crispy chicken skin, roasted mushrooms, and saucy tomatoes with grilled bread. There were also  two pots of rillets on the table, one made of rabbit and one of the pork rillets I shared in this post.  (I can now affirm that these freeze quite well.)  In the end, this cheese hour was so abundant that it completely did away with the need for dinner. 

  

Pierre Sparr Cremant d'Alsace Brut Reserve

12.5% ABV | Average Price: $21 

I’ve shared quite a few bottles of Cremant d’Alsace here over time, so I’m not going to go into a long description here, but very simply put, Cremant in sparkling wine that is made in the style of Champagne (aka traditional method or méthode traditionnelle) that come from regions other than Champagne. In this case, the wine comes from Alsace in northeastern France. 

Image borrowed from Pierre Sparr's website.

Maison Pierre Sparr has a long history spanning many generations. The family’s winemaking origins date back to 1680 under Jean Sparr. Starting in 1785, François Pierre Sparr began increasing the vineyard holdings. Jump ahead a few generations, and Charles Sparr turned his attention to developing the business, trade, and winery’s wine aging practices. His son, Pierre, became the head of the company at the age of 20 and developed the business further, and became a pioneer in estate bottling in Alsace. His motto was: “invest, progress and maintain.”

Map borrowed from WineFolly.com.

Alsace was one of the French regions most devastated by the World Wars due to its location right on the border with Germany. The domaine’s vineyards were completely destroyed during WWII. Pierre Sparr worked very hard to rebuild the domaine back to its previous prestige. His sons René and Charles continued the work and increased the vineyard holding and developed European markets for the company. The winery is now in its 9th generation in the family, and they have Corinne Perez as the current winemaker.

Today the domaine owns 15 hectares of vineyards, and they source from an additional 130 hectares supplied by well-experienced winegrowers. I couldn’t find much on the winery’s vineyard practices, however, their site does note that they do not use chemical fertilizers and they limit their yields for quality control. 

Image borrowed from Pierre Sparr's website.

Their Cremant d'Alsace Brut Reserve is a blend of 80% Pinot Blanc and  20% Pinot AuxerroisGrapes for this wine are whole-cluster pressed, with the varieties being handled separately. The wine is fermented and held in stainless steel tanks, then the still wines are blended and bottled, and then the wine spends 12-16 months on the lees before release. Find tech sheet on this wine here and here for additional details.

I found this to be a rich style of Cremant d’Alsace with lots of baked pear and apple notes. On the nose, there were pretty floral notes as well. On the palate, there were also flavors of toasted nuts and honeyed mead-like notes, at the front, and then move into fresher notes of lemon towards the mid-palate and finish. There was a creamy feel to the texture of this wine. 

This was generally a very friendly wine when it came to pairing. I can’t think of anything it clashed with on our extensive cheese and charcuterie table. Sparkling wines in general tend to pair well with fried foods, and following in that tradition, this wine paired really well with the crispy chicken skins. It also matched particularly well with the two types of rillets spread on grilled buttery bread, managing somehow to both mirror the richness of these meaty spreads, and then cleanse and lift the palate at the finish. Sweet items that you tend to find on a cheese plate like fruit, jams, confitures, and mostarda can be tricky to pair with dry wines in general, but this wine worked better than most in my experience, perhaps thanks to the richness of the fruit and the nutty flavors. This was particularly true when these sweeter items were accompanied in a bite with savory charcuterie or salty cheese. 

The wine worked generally well with most cheeses, but as there were too many on the table to discuss them all individually, I’ll just spotlight one that I really enjoyed with the wine – Brillat-Savarin Affine. We’ll take a closer look at the cheese momentarily, but I really enjoyed how these two worked together. Similar to how the wine worked with the rillettes, the wine matched the cheese’s decadent texture, but then refreshed the palate at the close of a sip.

See this post for more on Cremant in general and this post for more on Cremant d’Alsace specifically. For more on the region of Alsace, check out this post. 

Brillat-Savarin Affine

Brillat-Savarin Affine is a bloomy-rind, soft-ripened triple cream cow's milk cheese that is soooooooooo silky, creamy, and delicious that Dee refers to it as the “unicorn cheese.” 

This version comes from Fromagerie Delin and they give the following description of the cheese and its history on their site: 

This cream-enriched cheese has a rich and varied history. In fact, it was to pay tribute to Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826), an illustrious figure in the French Revolution and above all a lover of fine gourmet foods, that Henri Androuet had the idea of naming a cheese after him around 1930.

It is a soft cheese made from a lactic curd that has been enriched with cream before maturing. It can be eaten fresh, in which case the softness and creaminess will dominate with creamy notes and a hint of acidity and freshness.

With the maturing process, its attractive bloomy rind appears after a few days and will give it a more assertive character. But once again, it is the creaminess and suppleness of the cheese that are the dominant characteristics. Nuances of hazelnut and mushroom coming from the rind complement the creaminess, imparting all its aromatic complexity.

Brillat-Savarin has been a PGI since 2017, with a production area extending from the south of the Ile-de-France to Burgundy. We are fortunate to have a production site in both these areas. You’ll really be able to taste the difference.

I think it can occasionally be hard to find – adding to why Dee calls it the “unicorn cheese,” but you can find this version here.

In terms of flavor, I found it to be mild in flavor with a pleasant sour tang, but the true joy of the cheese is the luscious texture. As I mentioned, It was a lovely match with our bottle of Pierre Sparr Cremant.

Cheese this good has a tendency to disappear!

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Both Pierre Sparr’s website and VinsAlsace.com have many more pairing ideas for wines from the region – check out their websites for more inspiration. 

I received two additional bottles of Cremant d’Alsace as samples for participation in this month’s French Winophiles event. Sadly, Greg and I got stranded on vacation on the east coast with COVID (luckily not too bad) and the other bottles are waiting for me at home. Perhaps the bottles of Cremant were a lucky charm on previous trips, as we had managed to avoid the plague up until now.

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• Cremant Wine Battered Perch; Michigan and French Classics Collide on A Day in the Life on the Farm
• A Thai Green Curry Lesson + Willm Crémant d’Alsace Brut Rosé on Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Crémant d’Alsace: An Elegant Sparkling Wine from France on Grape Experiences
• Crémant d’Alsace - Exploring the Nuances of France’s 2nd Favorite Sparkling Wine on Crushed Grape Chronicles
• Crémant d'Alsace: A Candidate for Your House Bubbly on Food Wine Click!
• Crémant d'Alsace Paired with Summer Fish Menus on Always Ravenous
• Crab Crêpes Compliment Crémant d'Alsace for Summer #Winophiles on Wine Predator
• Cheese Hour at the Culinary Cabin with Pierre Sparr Crémant d'Alsace Brut Reserve on Somm's Table
• Porch Sipper of the Year: Crémant d’Alsace on Keep the Peas
• Crispy Fishwich + an Organic Cremant d'Alsace from Charles Bauer on Wineivore
• Try This Traditional French Sparkler For Modern Drinkers on L’Occasion

Time for more bubbly!

Today we’re exploring a small region of Italy not enough people know about – Franciacorta. It’s understandable that this is still a fairly undiscovered gem – the region’s sparkling wine history only dates back 50-60 years. However, in that fairly short period of time, Franciacorta has established a reputation (among those who know about it) for high-quality, traditional method sparkling wine. 

In addition, the area is rapidly pushing forward on the sustainability front as well. The first organic bottling of Franciacorta came out in 2002 (from Barone Pizzini), but since then they’ve progressed by leaps and bounds so that now nearly 70% of the region’s wineries are either certified organic or in the conversion process. This gives Franciacorta the highest percentage of organic producers of any region in the country.

Altogether, it’s a region well-worth getting to know.

Franciacorta Cheat Sheet 

Styles: The major defining characteristic of the region is, as mentioned, that it specializes in traditional method sparkling wines – i.e. the same style as Champagne in which the second fermentation that creates the bubbles occurs in the bottle. (For an in-depth look at the process, check out this post.) The wines come in rosé and white styles and are available in the full range of sweetness levels typical of sparkling wines, ranging from Zero Dosage wines at the driest end, and demi-sec at the sweetest end. Brut is the most common style, and while up to 12 grams of sugar per liter are permitted, most producers stay well below that.

One distinctive style of Franciacorta is Satèn, which is bottled at a lower bottle pressure than the usual – it must remain below 5 atmospheres instead of 6 – creating more subtle, creamy bubbles. Satèn wines are made with only white grapes are produced exclusively in the Brut style.

Aging Requirements: Non-Vintage Franciacorta wines must age on the lees for at least 18 months. The number goes up to 30 months for vintage wines, and that’s doubled to 60 months for wines labeled Riserva. Satèn and rosé wines must age for at least 24 months on the lees. 

Location: Franciacorta is located in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It’s bordered by Lake Iseo to the north, which helps create a warm but moderate microclimate that gives the grapes plenty of time in the sun to ripen. Cooling breezes from the foothills of the Rhaetian Alps farther to the northeast help moderate the temperatures as they flow down through the area’s rolling hills, which also help to shelter the vineyards. The growing region is shaped like an amphitheater, which was carved out by retreating glaciers. The glaciers were also kind enough to leave behind lots of well-draining, mineral-rich gravel, and limestone soils. Put it all together and you get fairly ideal conditions for growing grapes that ripen well while maintaining acidity and can grow happy and healthy in the excellent soils.

Curtefranca DOC (formerly known as Terre di Franciacorta) covers the same area, but for still white and red wines made from international varieties.

Grapes: The key grapes are similar to those used in other traditional method regions. Chardonnay, Pinot Nero (Pinot Noir), and Pinot Bianco (Pinot Blanc) are the key grapes. Chardonnay is the leader both in plantings and usage, but Pinot Bianco can make up 50% of the blend. Rosé wines must contain at least 35% Pinot Nero. Erbamat, a white grape indigenous to the area that’s enjoying a resurgence thanks to its high acidity levels, is also permitted up to 10%.  

History: 

While the region’s winemaking history goes back to the 16th century, its modern chapter begins in 1961 when the house of Guido Berlucchiwith released the first traditional method sparkling wine ever to be produced in the region. The wines were in high demand right away, and as a result, a string of entrepreneurs was attracted to invest in the region. The style developed quickly, and Franciacorta was granted its DOC status in 1967 for sparkling and non-sparkling wines.

The region was conscientious in how it invented itself from the start. It modeled itself closely on Champagne, and the local Consorzio established a code of self-regulation for farming and production at least as strict as its example. Franciacorta has always set the bar high for itself in terms of quality, and its Consorzio (established in 1991) has generally campaigned over time for more and more rigorous standards. As a result of all of this hard work, as well as a good bit of lobbying, Franciacorta was promoted to DOCG status (Italy’s highest classification) in 1995. 

The region has established a reputation for high-quality wines that often have a good capacity for aging. (My example today had several years on it and was still quite delicious.) You’ll find a mix of large and small producers here, but they tend to share that focus on quality – which is heartening as a consumer. 

What makes it distinctive: 

Franciacorta might have modeled itself on Champagne, but it’s still its own region so there are distinctions. These two regions have very different climates and terroirs. Thanks to Franciacorta’s climate, they have a much easier time ripening their grapes. The fruit tends to have rounder and riper fruit notes, like golden apples and stone fruits, and even tropical fruits in warmer years. Personally, I often get a rich baked pear tart note from Franciacorta. 

Thanks as well to the ripeness of their fruit, Franciacorta can pretty reliably produce good zero dosage wines every year. This isn’t always the case in Champagne.

The next difference we already talked about – this is a much younger region. Champagne has about 300 years on Franciacorta. There’s also a huge difference in scale – Champagne produces about 100 times more wine per year. However, we’ve seen as well that in Franciacorta, that smaller scale goes with attention to detail and a focus on quality. 

The downside is that given the high focus on quality and smaller-scale production, bottles can definitely get pricey. However, at least you can be reasonably assured when spending the money that the wine you’re buying was conscientiously made, even if you know nothing about the producer as you're picking up the bottle. In addition, as mentioned at the top, there is an increasing focus in the region as a whole on organic and biodynamic viticulture. 

The Wine & Pairing: Cavalleri Satèn Brut Franciacorta with Braised Collard Greens and Polenta

Cavalleri is one of two biodynamic estates in Franciacorta. The family’s history in the region stretches back to 1450, but it was Gian Paolo and his son Giovanni Cavalleri that began to bottle wine for themselves and gave the company its current name in 1968, shortly after the Franciacorta DOC was established. (Prior to that, the family had sold their wines in bulk.) Giovanni Cavalleri was part of the group of winemakers that helped to establish the consorzio in 1990, and he even served as President. Giovanni’s daughters, Maria and Giulia, followed them into the business, and now his grandchildren, Francesco and Diletta, have also joined the company.

Cavalleri approaches farming in a holistic way, planting grass, cruciferous plants, and legumes in between the rows to increase the organic matter within the soil and increase its vitality by natural means. The house style is to produce wines that are ripe but dry, using low levels of pressed juice, sweet dosage, and sulfur.  They also partially ferment in large barrels of Slavonian oak, rather than barriques, which are more common.

I’d had the 2013 Satén in “my cellar” for a while, but it was still showing quite nicely. On the day we opened it, it showed notes of bruised golden apples and baked pears on the nose, along with dried flowers, yellow plums, and yellow peach. There were similar notes on the palate, although the fruit notes were a bit brighter and fresher. It also showed more leesy notes on the palate of pastry crust along with savory cheese rind and lots of toasty notes, perhaps coming from the age of the wine, well as the winemaking process. As it was a Satén, the bubbles were more subtle and had a creamier feel than your typical sparkler.

The pairing for this wine came out of a menu collaboration last Valentine’s Day with Dragonglass Glassware. (I’ve been meaning and trying to get this post up for A WHILE.) We paired this with a dish of braised collard greens topped with extra bacon and Parmesan. I love Serious Eats’ recipe – it’s rich and flavorful and has become my go-to method for preparing this Southern classic. 

I liked the idea of serving the collards with polenta, since polenta and grits are basically the same things, I saw it as creating a bridge between the Italian wine and the Southern dish. I use Marcella Hazan’s recipe for polenta as my template, although I tend to like to add cream and/or cheese at the end.

 These two made a delicious pairing. The wine became brighter and livelier with the food. The wine’s savory and umami notes, which were perhaps heightened from the wine’s age, mingled beautifully with the savory notes in the food. The wine also had a richness that matched the weight of the food but also refreshed the palate.

Geeky Details:

I couldn’t find a tech sheet for the 2013, but you can find the production details for the 2016 bottling of this wine here. The basic details for that vintage are as follows: 

For a rundown on the many styles of Italian sparkling wines, check out this post. 

And for a general overview on Italian wines, check out this post. 

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The Aura Champagne glasses were sent to me as samples, and since then I partnered with Dragon Glassware as an ambassador. Click here to get the glasses for yourself and use the code "NICOLE10" for 10% off. (I might receive a commission at no cost to you.)

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The Italian Food, Wine, Travel Blogging Group (#ItalianFWT) is exploring Italian Organic & Natural Wines of Italy. I'm very late to the party, but check out the rest of their posts:  

• Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm will share “Discovering Ziobaffa Wines”.
• Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Cam will share “With an Ethos of Quality and Sustainability: ZIOBAFFA Pinot Grigio Terre Siciliane IGT + Braised Celery Over Farro Couscous”
• Susannah at Avvinare will share “Tuscany’s Querciabella Leads the Way on Vegan Wines”
• Gwendolyn at Wine Predator will share “La Maliosa Saturnia Biodynamic Natural Wine: Red, White Native Grapes Paired with Pizza #ItalianFWT”
• Jennifer at Vino Travels will share “The Sustainability Behind Sicily’s Principi di Butera”
• Katarina at Grapevine Adventures will share “3 Wines Going From Organic To Natural”