Asolo Prosecco (also known as Colli Asolani) is one of a growing raft of DOCG titles to grace the wine portfolio of the Veneto wine region in north-eastern Italy. As is made clear by the first of these titles (but not the second), it covers prosecco wines – the gently fragrant sparkling style for which Veneto has become known in recent decades.
The Prosecco name underwent several significant administrative changes in 2009 and 2010, with the creation not only of a broad Prosecco DOC but also of the Asolo Prosecco/Colli Asolani title and the promotion of Conegliano-Valdobbiadene to DOCG status. At the same time, the name of the Prosecco grape became legally protected and may now only be used within the Prosecco zone. Sparkling wines made under other DOCs are now required to refer to it by the variety's ancient name, Glera.
The Colli Asolani (the hilly area of northern central Veneto in which Asolo Prosecco is made) run in a neatly defined ridge from north-east to south-west between the towns of Cornuda and Asolo itself. Along this five-mile (8km) spine the hills undulate gently, their peaks rising to a maximum of about 1500ft (460m). The finest vineyard sites lie on the southern side of the hills, on sunny south-facing slopes whose gentle gradient and loose soils offer excellent drainage. They are interspersed with orchards, vegetable crops and the wooded areas which reach up in finger-like valleys to the ridge summit.
Asolo is known as the 'Pearl of Treviso', and also, thanks to its mountainous surroundings, as the City of 100 Horizons. Set at the western edge of the Colli Asolani ridge and the foot of the Venetian Alps, the landscape here is indeed impressive – particularly to the north. On the southern side of the town, plains slope gently down towards the Venetian Lagoon and, 30 miles (50km) due south of Asolo's main vineyard area, the city of Venice.
For more information about prosecco wines and how they are made, see prosecco.
