Prapian Estate 3 Volte Pinot Grigio 2024
£11.25
The wine
A rich and beautifully balanced Pinot Grigio, with delicate aromas of apricot and linden flower leading to a refreshing palate with delicious mango notes. Organically farmed, and a step above the usual.
3 Volte means three times, referring to the number of passes through the vineyard at harvest. Pinot Grigio is a pink-skinned mutation of Pinot Noir, and picking selectively rather than in one sweep is what separates a decent Veneto Pinot Grigio from an anonymous one. Fermented cool in stainless steel.
The producer
Prapian Estate
View all Prapian Estate winesPrapian Estate works in the hills of Conegliano Valdobbiadene, the heartland of serious Prosecco, north of Treviso in the Veneto.
Those hills were added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2019 for their cultural landscape: narrow, steep ridges called hogbacks, formed by ancient tectonic folding, where vineyards, woodland and small settlements interleave. The slopes are worked entirely by hand because no machine can reach them, and growers refer to the labour as viticoltura eroica, heroic viticulture.
The distinction between the appellations matters. Prosecco DOC covers a vast flat area across the Veneto and Friuli; Conegliano Valdobbiadene and Asolo are the two DOCG zones in the hills above, with lower yields and hand harvesting. Valdobbiadene sits at the western end and is generally held to give the finest wines of all. Glera is the grape, and the Charmat method keeps its pear and white-flower aromatics intact.
