Back in the winter of 2019/2020 we were researching all about day or weekend trips we could do from our little northern town in Friuli, Italy. One of the most highly recommended was a trip to Prosecco Road. Prosecco Road is just north of Venice, between the towns of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene. Picture rolling hills of vineyards you can see for miles with the charming old homes marking each vineyard. The perfect trip after a day or two spent in iconic Venice.

We visited Prosecco Road for the first time in January 2020, the dead of winter. Winter is supposed to be ugly right? Nope, not here. Even in the winter it was truly stunning. I mean, if you can, definitely go in the warmer greener months! But she’s gorgeous no matter when, nonetheless. We’ve gone a handful of times since then and I can’t wait to share my findings with you.

In this blog post I’m going to teach you a few things about prosecco that I myself found interesting to know before a tasting, what wineries to go to, where to stay, places to eat, and a few other activities to round out your trip. Then we’ll top it off with my favorite part of wine tasting specific to Italy and how they are so different from those in the United States.

Prosecco Itself

What is it?

Prosecco is a sparkling wine made from the “glera” grape. In order to be labeled prosecco, a sparkling wine must be made in the Veneto region, specifically around the area of Prosecco Road.

How is it made?

Prosecco is made using the “tank method” by allowing the grape juice, sugar, and yeast to sit in a tank forming bubbles with the pressure inside of the tank. And here’s a little pro tip for you: when it comes to prosecco, the smaller and more prevalent bubbles there are, the better the prosecco is.

Isn’t it sweet?

A common misconception is that prosecco is just a sweeter version of champagne. This actually isn’t true! In terms of sweetness and overall sugar content, prosecco is classified as either brut, dry, or extra dry. At first glance you might guess that extra dry has the least amount of sugar, but it is in fact the opposite. “Dry” is the sweetest form of prosecco with the most amount of sugar (anywhere from 17g-32g per serving), while brut has 0g - 12g of sugar, and extra dry between 12g and 17g per glass. Extra dry or dry are most commonly used in the famous Italian cocktail, the aperol spritz (or spritz aperol if you’re ordering in italy!).

I personally love a good brut prosecco and it’s my go to order for an aperitivo.

Prosecco vs. Champagne

Both prosecco and champagne are sparkling wines, however, the process of how they are made and where they originate are the major differences. Like I said above, prosecco is found in the Veneto region in the Prosecco Road and Northeast Italy area, while Champagne is found in Champagne France. Like prosecco uses the “tank method,” champagne is actually made by creating a classic white wine, then adding the yeast and sugars during the bottling process, aged, and the fermentation causes the bubbles in the wine bottle as opposed to using a tank. The process, as well as the type of grapes used in champagne are more expensive causing its higher price tag. The higher price tag doesn’t always mean better quality. You can find really great quality prosecco for half the price.

DOC and DOCG

We all know Italians take their wine seriously, and we love that! But they even made a law over it. On many Italian wine labels you’ll see either DOC or DOCG. DOC stands for Denomination of Controlled Origin, and DOCG stands for Denomination of Controlled Origin Guaranteed. In order to receive these labels the wines must pass a series of tests regarding wine color, area of production, alcohol content, production techniques, etc.

Storing your wine

You’re going to want to buy a few cases when you’re visiting to ship back home. Trust me! While on your trip in Italy you can buy prosecco and wine for around 5-10 euros per bottle. For those same exact bottles in America you’ll pay around $25-$45 per bottle! The average price is around 10-15 euros per bottle, with really good bottles around 30-40 euros, which means you need to know how to store it! You want to keep your prosecco standing upright so the cork stays dry and preferably in a cool dark place. If you’re going to be drinking it soon you can either stand it up or lay it down in the fridge, but do not transfer it from laying down to upright. This can damage the cork and cause your prosecco to go bad. All corks are naturally made (we love that) which can make them sensitive to these changes.

Travel Guide

Wineries to Visit

Most of you reading this are going to be English speaking by nature according to my blog’s google analytics!! So, I wanted to share a list of wineries that are vetted for you by numerous military families based in Aviano, Italy (and of course myself!) who’ve visited and had incredible experiences. Given Northern and Northeast Italy aren’t the “most” touristy area of Italy, it can be tricky to find fluent English speaking wineries. So these will all give you a very authentic italian wine tasting experience (I’ll get to what exactly that means) and it can be in English! So, here is a list of wineries to try:

Ca’Salina
San Gergorio
La Tordera
Tanorè
The Vending Machine - obviously not a winery but absolutely a must do! Set atop of the cartizze hill with a magnificent view.
San Floriano - not a winery but such a beautiful view, click the link and see what I mean!

The area surrounding the vending machine with benches and picnic tables to enjoy a bottle!

There are plenty more you can visit besides these, however keep in mind that most Italian tastings last around 2-3 hours.

You can easily make a reservation for a tasting by calling and simply say “Parla ingelse?” to ask if they can speak Enlgish.

My favorites are San Gregorio for the traditional experience, Osteria Senz’Oste (the vending machine area) for the unique experience, and Ca’Salina for the view.

Where to stay

I suggest staying in the Valdobbiadene area. However, anywhere between Conegliano and Valdobbiadene would be ideal (about a 19 mile distance).

We personally have stayed at Castlebrando which is located about a 25 minute drive from most of the wineries. It is one of Europe’s largest and oldest castles set atop of a hill overlooking the charming town of Cison di Valmarino. You can take a cable car ride from the castle down into the square for lunch or dinner, and ride back up. The castle hotel has two restaurants and a wellness spa. Because why not stay in a castle am I right?!

Our friends over at San Gregorio also love to suggest the family owned Hotel Asolo. It is also about a 25 minute drive to the wineries. It is a charming farmhouse style hotel with a bar, breakfast restaurant, gym, and the most peaceful setting. I mean, can you believe those photos?

Our beautiful friends have found the two hotels below, which I cannot wait to visit in the not so distant future. Both of these places have a great location, pool, and breakfast.

Villa Barberina

Duca di Dolle

Where to eat

There are SO many delicious restaurants in this area. A few that I’d highly suggest are:

Trattoria Alla Cima (a stunning view)
Ristorante Dalla Marianna
Osteria Senz’Oste (another beautiful view)
Agriturismo Al Castelet (only open on weekends, great food, amazing prices)

Trattoria Alla Cima offers a really special and romantic experience of a multiple course meal set at a table among the vines. The view and experience is hard to beat. Of course, they offer their regular indoor and patio seating as well. This is one of the most highly recommended restaurants so be sure to make a reservation ahead of time.

You can see the tables set up in the distance for the multiple course meal within the vines!

Ristorante Dalla Marianna is still one of our favorite meals in Italy thus far. If you find yourself here in the fall or winter time, definitely try the pumpkin gnocchi and the duck.

Osteria Senz’Oste is an adorable restaurant by the famous prosecco vending machines. The perfect stop for a midday break. Tables are very limited, but if they’re full when you arrive head up to the vending machines for a bottle of prosecco while you wait. Or, grab some cheese, prosciutto, and crackers from the machine (yes, it’s actually good and not crappy vending machine food!) for a simple lunch and unforgettable experience.

Remember, we’re in Italy and lunch is sacred! Lunches are usually similar to an American Sunday family dinner - heavy, winey, and drawn out! For example, while at lunch with some friends before a 3:30pm wine tasting, after 3 hours we asked for our bill. The waitress and hostess replied “this is Italy, we take our time!” And we said, yes we’ve loved it so much but our tasting starts in 3 minutes!! Gotta love it!

How to Plan Your Wine Tasting Day

A perfect day in a winery area is scheduling a tasting around 11am, lunch around 1:30pm and another tasting around 3:30-4pm. And there’s your entire day! I highly suggest 3 days in this area. Two days devoted to 3-4 wineries and the vending machine area, and a third day to pop up into the dolomite mountains for a hike or heading east to Collio for a quick day trip of more specialty wineries. Collio is the wine region in Friuli known for their white and orange wines.

Other must-do’s in the area

The vineyards and wineries are an absolute must, and breathtaking at the very least. But Northern Italy is full of surprises and there are so many things to do during your visit besides the wineries.

Hikes/Mountain Experiences

Lago di Sorapis hike (highly recommend - one of the coolest hikes I’ve ever done)
Tre Cime hike
Lago di Barcis hike
Cima Manera hike
Pianezze Avventura - a zipline/adventure park experience
Malga Cheese Tasting - Malga Mariech, or Malga Barbaria

Mountain/Lake towns to visit

Cortina
Belluno
Lago di Garda
Collio area - where orange wine comes from
*Venice is also a very short drive*

Wine Tasting Italian Style

Why it’s so special

Italian culture is extremely family oriented. If you visit the right wineries, you’ll get a first hand experience of exactly what this means. Let me explain…

T’s and my very first visit to Prosecco Road in January 2020 was unforgettable. We first visited Ca’Salina after a friend’s suggestion to take in the picture perfect view. After figuring out that a “tasting” in Italy is really just multiple full pours, we headed to a classic Italian lunch at Ristorante Dalla Marianna before our next stop. I’m telling you, get the pumpkin gnocchi and the duck and thank me later.

After our bellies were full we were ready for the next winery of the day, San Gregorio. We were first greeted by their energetic and adorable golden retriever, Rocky. If you know my husband, you know he loves dogs more than me, and almost as much as the F-16 (that’s a lot my friends), so he was quickly won over.

After knocking on the door to see if we could begin our tasting, we were greeted by one of the five sisters who runs the winery. Little did we know we would bump into one of the most fun wine tasting experiences you could find. When we arrived, the five sisters Elisa, Anna, Valeria, Lucia, and Angela, their parents, their grandparents, and the entire family were gathered for an Italian style (big, wine filled, full of laughter) lunch with another couple from our squadron. Hi, if you’re new to the blog, my husband is an F-16 pilot for the Air Force and we are currently stationed in Northern Italy! This couple had grown close to Elisa and her family during their time stationed at Aviano. After figuring out what we’d interrupted, we quickly let them know that we could just visit another winery and we don’t mean to intrude. But, they quickly brought us in for the dessert and sgroppino (a boozy gelato drink) portion of lunch and gave us a private and extravagant wine tasting experience! We learned how they use roses on the ends of the vines to naturally detect when their crops might be getting attacked by insects instead of using chemicals, how each varietal is harvested, how their family began the winery, and how much it’s grown since they first began.

A quick rebuttal to anyone who says prosecco isn’t as good as champagne...one of the younger sisters, Anna, has a special talent for tasting wine. (I know, how fun would that be). She had a feeling that their special edition bottle “Cru” was special indeed. She ended up taking this special edition prosecco to a champagne competition. Long story short, this prosecco won the champagne competition! We couldn’t leave San Gregorio without a few bottles, and have bought plenty since! Our favorites are the tranquillo, and Risveglio, the classic brut. Anywho, back to the story of wine tasting in Italy!

In Italy, wine tasting is about the experience. The winemakers and vineyard owners are so passionate about what they do you can’t help but feel it during your hours tasting with them. Most often, the person giving you your wine tasting is also the person who owns the winery and makes the wine. And if you’re lucky, you’ll visit one of the many wineries where the tastings and vineyard are done at the family home. If you’ve gone to the right winery, you should leave feeling like they’ve let you into their family, they’ve won you over with their love for what they do, and they truly can’t wait for your return.

I hope you get to have this special wine tasting experience in the not so distant future, and this blog helped you plan it!

And that’s it folks. I hope you enjoyed yet another travel blog. As always, I actually have a“travel hacks” highlight where I explain how to use google maps to save places that you want to visit in the future, whether you have a trip planned or not! Click here to view that, go through these places and be sure to save your favorites! I’d love to hear which ones you end up going to! Never hesitate to DM me on Instagram or shoot me an email here, I love hearing from you!

Until next time, XO,

Di

Prosecco Road Travel Guide