Fizzy wine woos beer drinkers

[tandkvd]

This is part of an artical in the Charlotte Observer this week about Prosecco. So, from this artical I guess there are no real connoisseurs here, since a lot of us like Proseco. Sorry Roberto. [img]http://wines.com/ubb2/wink.gif[/img]

Italians drink prosecco like Coke or Pepsi, especially in Venice, near the Veneto region where it's made. It's served as an aperitif, with the little Italian tapas called "cicheti" or with fish or scampi.
Prosecco -- the name of the grape as well as of the wine -- gets little respect from connoisseurs. "Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia" devotes two sentences to it: "This grape is responsible for producing a great deal of very ordinary Italian sparkling wine. The vast majority is boring."

Il Prosecco is light and dry, with pear undertones. It comes in full-size and half-size bottles with pop-off, metal "crown" caps, just like beer. It's no coincidence. The point is to lure hip 20-somethings -- well, over-21-somethings, especially women -- into switching from beer.
"The packaging is a bridge into wine," says Mike Tucker, marketing manager for Mionetto, the 100-year-old Italian firm that makes it. "Prosecco is meant to be fun and approachable."