Osé

Extra Dry, Brut, Extra Brut: What Do They Mean?

Labels on sparkling wines often feature terms like Extra Dry, Brut, and Extra Brut—but what do they actually mean? It all comes down to the residual sugar, the amount of sugar left in the wine (measured in grams per liter), which determines its sweetness and shapes its flavor. Each category offers a range of tastes, and even within the same classification, the experience can vary.
Take a Brut (6-12 g/l), for example: it can lean drier or slightly fruitier depending on the sugar level. A sparkling wine like l’Osé, with 10 g/l, strikes a balanced middle ground—fresh, approachable, and easy to enjoy. This makes it a great match for an aperitif or a light dessert, appealing to a wide audience.

Originating from French tradition, these terms take on unique interpretations across different wine regions, each style shining in its own moment. Here’s a simple guide to navigate them:

Extra Brut (less than 6 g/l): dry and bold, ideal with shellfish or fresh cheeses.
Brut (6-12 g/l): crisp and dry, perfect for light appetizers.
Extra Dry (12-17 g/l): soft and versatile, pairs well with risottos or pastries.
Dry (17-32 g/l): sweet and harmonious, great with fruit or desserts.
Demi Sec (32-50 g/l): rich and sweet, best with decadent desserts.
Every sparkling wine has its perfect occasion, and the choice depends on personal taste and the moment.

The Vintage Unknown: A Prosecco Mystery

Stroll through a supermarket aisle or skim a trendy aperitivo menu, and there it is: the “millesimato,” strutting its stuff like it owns the place. But what is it, really? A fancy buzzword or a clever label trick? To figure it out, let’s dive into the rulebook — those Italian disciplinari, a maze of acronyms and fine print that could make a bureaucrat weep.

Prosecco comes in flavors: DOC (nine provinces across Veneto and Friuli, a bubbly tsunami), Superiore DOCG (hills of Conegliano Valdobbiadene or Asolo, the posh crowd), or even Rosé, with a definition so convoluted — “Spumante Rosé Millesimato with 10-15% Pinot Nero vinified red” — it sounds like a ministerial riddle. Then there’s the Rive, those poetic microzones with names no one can pronounce. And finally, our star: the millesimato. It means the wine’s from a single harvest, stamped with a year. No blending across vintages, just one pure, simple season.

Here’s the twist: Prosecco’s disciplinari don’t allow multi-year blends anyway. Every bottle’s already a single-vintage kid by default. So why the “millesimato” hype? Marketing, darling: it whispers rarity, exclusivity, a year worth remembering — even if it’s just 2022 after a soggy summer.
Rewind to Champagne, where “millesimato” (millésime) was born. There, base wines are often a mash-up of years, and only epic harvests — the stuff of legends — earn the vintage crown, aged and sold for a small fortune. In Prosecco land, though, single vintages are the norm, not the jackpot. Try telling that to the average punter, who spots “Millesimato 2021” and dreams of crystal flutes and bubbles to savor like liquid gold.

Then there’s the rebel crew: the col fondo, those cloudy, bottle-fermented Proseccos with a charm all their own. Too bad they’re banned from the “Prosecco” club if they skip the mushroom cork, metal cage, and collar (or capsule, take your pick). Too rustic, not shiny enough for the official bubbly brigade. Meanwhile, the millesimato preens on the shelf, a poster child for elegance that might just be in our heads.

In short, a Prosecco millesimato is like a tailored suit over a t-shirt: same stuff underneath, but it makes us all feel fancier. And we toast to it, blissfully fooled.