North Adriatic’s Slow Fizz Trend

My latest in The Drinks Business:

North Adriatic Spearheads Slow Fizz Trend

by L.M. Archer

The North Adriatic glistens among a spate of emerging sparkling wines scenes.

The relatively unknown North Adriatic straddles three countries: Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia.

It comprises Italy’s Colli Orientali and Collio, Isonzo, Carso, and Grave; Slovenia’s Goriska Brda and Vipava Valley;  Slovenian and Croatian Istria; Aquileia DOC; Italian and Slovenian Karst, and the Kvarner region.

Together, they strive towards one common goal: producing world-class traditional method sparkling wines that are truthful of terroir.

“Consumer tastes are changing more and more rapidly,” observes vigneron Paolo Rodaro of Rodaro Paolo Winery in Cormòns, Friuli Venezia Giulia, where his winemaking family dates back to 1846.

“We have witnessed the decline in the consumption of sweet wines (for us, Verduzzo, Friulano or Picolit), which has led to consumers increasingly gravitating toward sparkling wines,” he says. “After trying the Charmat method, consumers began to seek out more intriguing options out of curiosity, and discovered traditional method sparkling wines.”

Thanks to trendsetters like Rodaro, this neophyte sparkling wine region more than makes up for lost time.

Common goal