To not have to drink Prosecco like it's an “occasion”? (Lighthearted)

Nowt wrong with a bit of pomp and ceremony for the first bottle of fizz on a special occasion. After a tokenistic first glass I'd expect everyone to migrate to their drink of choice. As head chef, I'd just keep my own bottle in the kitchen.

I hate prosecco but like cava and l9ve champagne. I drink cava and champagne as wine, like you. So - yanbu

Excellent post.

@twilighteaser thank you for the explanation - had (wrongly) thought the methods for prosecco and champagne were more similar. Have now fallen down a google rabbit hole! Made a note to check for ‘valdobbiadene’ on future prosecco labels!!

Prosecco is produced with the Martinotti-Charmot Method, while Champagne is produced with the Traditional (Champenoise) Method, in Italy we call it the Metodo Classico, this wine has a fine and persistent bubble where as Prosecco bubbles are larger.

Italian wines using the Champagne method are Franciacorta and Trento Doc, in UK you might see brands like Berlucchi or Ferrari that use this method. Cava also uses this method.

Most supermarket Prosecco I've consumed in UK have been poor I'm sad to say, wine that would cost €4 a bottle here in Italy & is considered 'average' at best ( I would never buy wine that in Italy that costs less than €8 a bottle otherwise you're not getting a fairly decent quality wine!)

To get a decent one in UK that's drinkable you'd need to spend at least £10 on a bottle and it should be DOC or DOCG. Prosecco should be Valdobbiadene to get the quality, so the minimum the supermarket's 'finest' Brut brand.

We had Prosecco with our Christmas lunch, I paid €30 a bottle, so it's absolutely not cheap rubbish. I think the UK produces some excellent sparkling wine too.
No matter where it's from or the price tag, you can drink it when you please, no celebration required.

Let them

Wait… it was your house with your Prosecco? So what was this an issue? Why did you have to do it your parent’s way? Just open the bottle, pour for yourself and anyone who wants one and tell people to help themselves and have what they want. This is very odd.

Well it is if your normal glass is a 250ml wine glass.
It's probably a full Prosecco glass though.

Ok I get maybe opening the first one or two bottles so everyone can have a cheers and a Merry Christmas but from then on it should have been each to their own preference and yours just happens to be Prosecco.

have I misunderstood though.
did you follow up to say you were cooking/hosting so she was doing this in your home with your alcohol?
that is rude!
her house I could maybe see it as it’s her rules but if it’s your house then she shouldn’t be dictating what you should be drinking, again maybe ok for the first bottle or two for celebrator purposes but definitely not after.

im not saying she was being deliberately rude just that she was being rude.

Prosecco is for cleaning the loo, try Cremant.

You are a lucky woman if this is worthy of a post, even lighthearted, OP!

I can see how IRL one could think it slightly cringe but as you describe it, your parents’ ritual sounds OTT but sweet. Perhaps they are making a big deal of this as a way to celebrate their DC?

But FWIW Prosecco is the lightest and fruitiest of the sparkling wines mentioned on this thread. Cava and Cremant, like Champagne, have their second fermentation in the bottle whilst Prosecco undergoes the second fermentation in the vat.

(I am usually a partisan of all things Italian but I prefer a good minerally Cava to a good Prosecco. Champagne wins.)

Perhaps they were suggesting to not open the Prosecco because it doesn't stay fizzy if left open unless you and anyone else were going to drink the whole botttle and they wanted to move onto a different drink.

Fair enough if it's bolly but not a bloody prosecco

Your parents sound like they were trying to create a celebratory atmosphere.
They might not have quite succeeded but I don't think it's a reason to have a (probably completely outing) thread about them on mn.

Yes, I had the Prosecco from Tanners this Christmas and thought it was good too

Some Prosecco costs £80 a bottle and is flipping gorgeous - it’s not ‘poor mans champagne’ at all. It’s an italian sparkling wine, the same way that champagne is a ‘French sparkling wine’ made from grapes grown in the Champagne region - it uses the same grapes as English sparking wine (chardonnay and pinot noir mainly) whereas Prosecco uses the glera grape. The same/similar fermenting processes are used.

Snobbery about it is what means French champagne producers can charge extortionate prices - because people ’think’ they are wine experts.

ETA I have happily drunk Veuve Cliquot and a lovely Prosecco from Tanners this Christmas,

I like it and we drink it in the house instead of flat wine, it can be comparable in price, especially if getting it from the supermarket and not for an occasion.

I do like iron horse curvee which isn't posh but you just can't get hold of it in the UK.

I agree with PP it comes from an earlier time when the only fizz would have been champagne, a rare treat opened with ceremony. They probably enjoy that
part. Agree though that you only really it for the first bottle. I’d just have a quiet little bottle open in the fridge and drink that.

I can't drink alcohol anymore, but I recall in my youth visiting Barcelona and having a glass of local cava, off the tap no less, in what appeared to be a branch of TK Maxx. Or possibly woolworths, it was a long time ago.
There is no way preferring cava makes you posh.
I worked for a wine merchants when I left University many years ago and remember the manager telling me that Australian fizzy wine was made in industrial steel vats! Pretty much all wine including champagne is mass produced. And I can consume none of it. I became allergic during menopause, wasn't expecting that! So if you like prosecco and don't have a drink problem enjoy it whilst you can.

Someone in my life went through a phase where she would only drink prosecco. I like it well enough every so often … but that got old quite quickly. Having someone buy a bottle of prosecco in a pub and then look put out that you are on lager (say) and don’t want prosecco can get awkward.

I think the issue here is that the parents make sure that everyone has prosecco, as it is a celebration drink. Making a big song and dance over opening each bottle becomes a bit much once you are onto the third.

Out of nosiness, what is the reaction when someone says “No thanks, I’ll just have a beer instead”?

Italians might think Champagne is a poor man's Prosecco. The fact you like Cava suggests you prefer the taste of the grape grown in France or Spain to the ones in Italy, which is perfectly acceptable. To be so rude about a country's export because you prefer something else is very telling of your personality, and less acceptable.

Calling a drink "tacky" just shows you have no class of your own.

So Cava is ok to drink outside of Spain, but drinking Prosecco outside of Italy is tacky? Why? And Prosecco is completely different from champagne - it’s lighter and brighter than champagne, which lots of people prefer. Champagne is definitely not superior, it’s just different. What are your views on Crémant or Asti Spumante? Do only plebs drink those?

Just explain that you drink prosecco as your regular drink and you'll happily finish off a bottle (so it won't get wasted), and they can move on to something else.

I think it's just a bit of a cultural/ generational thing seeing it as a special occasion drink. There are people who have raised an eyebrow at me when I've casually popped a bottle like it's no big deal (including my DH when we first got together). Just explain it's what you do and move on.

But surely you only drink cava in Spain, no? Or if you don't like prosecco at all, why do you drink it in Italy?