Have you already noticed (and tasted) some of those Proseccos carrying the name “Rive” on the label? Introduced in 2009, the category is supposed to bring a more terroir focus on the Conegliano-Valdobbiadene DOCG subzones, but is there a bright future ahead of the category? Anton Moiseenko is reporting from the region
Before 2009 the only truly territorial unit within the larger Conegliano-Valdobbiadene area was that of Cartizze, the historic 107-ha hill located close to the town of Valdobbiadene, the hill that used to supply many the parties of well-off Milanese with rich, exuberant, mostly sweetish sparkling wine made of Glera. Then the changes arrived — and many Prosecco producers woke up to the news: they could now produce something called “Rive” Prosecco.
The name of the new category is derived from the local dialect word “Riva” meaning “hill”. That’s not a coincidence: most vineyards that can bear the “Rive” name are located on the hills between the towns of Valdobbiadene and Conegliano. There are currently 15 “Rive” villages (or communes) of which 43 separate “Rive” can be — in theory — produced. Innocente Nardi, the President of the Consorzio Tutela del Vino Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco, explains: “We have been studying zones and soil types for years to see the difference from one zone to another. In 2009 we made a clear statement that the territory is of the utmost importance. “Rive” is the consequence of this philosophy”.
While some slopes allowing “Rive” production are gently rolling into the autumn mist like Rive Di Manzana in the commune of Vittorio Veneto to the north of Conegliano, others rise abruptly with shocking hill inclinations that reach 80% as in the vineyards of Riva di Guia in the commune of Valdobbiadene.
Besides the requirement of being located within the specific commune, the grapes for “Rive” wines must come from vineyards with controlled yields of maximum 13 tons per hectare (which is slightly lower than the official 13,5 tons requirement for the Prosecco Superiore DOCG wine) and be manipulated exclusively by hand.
The hilly concept
Not all the “Rive” hills give birth to “Rive” wines, though: some exist only on paper. “The vineyards are owned by a lot of people,” — says Lodovico Giustiniani, the owner of Borgoluce winery that produces wine from Riva di Collalto in the commune of Susegana. “ The wineries that are closer to the “Rive” area are more interested. Some “Rive” have several producers, others don’t have any, especially if the growers sell to bigger wineries.”
“To produce Rive one needs a dedicated project, less grapes quantity and more work in the vineyards,”
— says Sergio Bramuzzo of Le Manzane winery bottling Rive Di Manzana.
“It’s much easier to produce “Rive” in a place where you have the winery, the actual building. In Manzana there are many growers, so they produce grapes for Prosecco Superiore DOCG wines unless the winery asks them to produce grapes for the Rive.”
“Rive” production is still relatively small (only 2,3% of all the Prosecco Superiore DOCG sparkling wines were “Rive” in 2016) not only because enough growers have to come together united by a single winery. Smaller wineries are still figuring out how to build “Rive” into their current production, that is already coming from the hills. In fact, some small-to-medium size wineries could (if they wanted) convert all their production into “Rive”.
”In the beginning we didn’t actually want to produce Rive,” — says Vanessa Follador of Tanorè winery that makes “Rive di Guia” from extremely steep hills and older vines near Valdobbiadene. “All our vineyards are on the classified hills. If we converted all the vineyards we’d produce less wine and would have to set higher prices, which — due to the steepness of our vineyards — are high enough already ”.
While bigger wineries are treating Rive as communal appellation and blending grapes from the whole hill, others, like Zardetto with its Rive di Cozzuolo called “Le Viti Di San Mor” are taking the game to an extreme — selecting grapes from dedicated vineyards within one “Riva” hill. “Of course, we could make “Rive” wine from the whole site that we have here, but we are trying to make it only from the best parts of the vineyard,” — explains Filippo Zardetto, whose father Fabio is consulted by a famous Umbrian — Riccardo Cotarella.
“We started to produce “Rive” in 2011 and each year we decide wether to make it or not, because each year is different. It’s like doing something for fun, but it’s not fun, it’s a serious approach to show the soils diversity and the Glera variety,” — says Daniele d’Anna Bortolotti of Umberto Bortolotti winery already producing several different “Rive”.
Besides hilly vineyards which are considered to be the must for a fine “Rive” Prosecco, producers point out the importance of old vines. Manuel Godello of Roccat winery, the producer of Rive di San Pietro di Barbozza, says: “The older vines last a lot more in terms of smell and taste”.
The approach
If “Rive” is a communal and terroir-based concept one would expect some differences in style of different communes. The question not so easy to answer — at least just 7 years from the arrival of the category. While producers are taking “Rive” extremely seriously and with enthusiasm, their number is not enough and the winemaking is not defined enough to speak about the distinct differences between the “Rives” in terms of styles of wines. Some of the “Rive” have only one single producer that, in fact, defines its style. Those that have 3-5 producers making “Rive” off them are too early to compare since their production methods are varying in terms of lees contact times, fermentation and blending practices.
One important factor is that “Rive” producers are sharing the idea that “Rive” — to be able to express the terroir — should mostly be wine with low sugar levels. There are, of course, extra-dry and dry versions of “Rive” wines, but overall “Rive” is moving towards being either Brut or even soon-to-be “Extra Brut”, the category that will encompass wines with sugar levels below 12 g/l. Prosecco area have a long history of producing sweeter versions of Glera they actually call “dry”, but with “Rive” category that might change.
“In Rive wines we want to achieve a more complex and structured taste, also retaining fruitiness,”
— explains the producer of Rive di Refrontolo winemaker Mirko Della Colletta from Colvendrà winery. “It should be the best wine we produce. Sugar is important for boosting perfume flavours. In dry version the flavour is more pronounced. The brut version expresses the terroir better, but we also would like to have a top wine that could pair with deserts. Brut is just not good for that”. Even with these considerations Colvendrà bottles 70% of its “Rive” production as Brut.
It’s safe to say “Rive” producers are looking to bring more complexity and identity to their wines, for many of whom “Rive” already represents the top wine of production. Sweeter and richer Cartizze remains something of a tradition, an expensive tradition.
“The “Rive” idea for us is to have a niche wine, the Burgundy idea,” — says Daniele d’Anna Bortolotti. Do Prosecco producers need to look as far as at Burgundy? Well, considering there Rive concept looks very similar to the Village concept of Burgundy, why shouldn’t they?
Time and experience seem to be the key in the DOCG zone evolution. Sergio Bramuzzo of Le Manzane emphasizes: “We have 20 years of experience with Prosecco DOCG and only two years with “Rive”. There’s a long way ahead and we are experimenting a lot”. “The differences between “Rive” wines are not so clear, but the more you know these wines and the more you taste, the more they become apparent. For us it’s also a learning curve,” — says Innocente Nardi, whose family also produces Rive di Farra di Soligo at the La Farra winery.
Oddly enough, the bigger cooperarives like Cantina Produttori di Valdobbiadene (around 13M bottles a year) have all the opportunities to be the leading Rive producers in the Prosecco DOCG area. With roughly quarter of a million bottles of Rive produced in 2016, the winery accounts for about 13% of all “Rive” production that year. “We don’t say we make the best wine, but we can make the best wines from certain areas. Wines with different personalities,” — says the winery’s general director Aldo Franchi. With an extensive network of growers at hand it can, in fact, produce the most variations of “Rive” wines. “The response we have from the market encourages us to move forward with “Rive”. We are thinking that in the end we can produce 10-12 different wines,” — he adds.
Pricing
The market figures indicate that “Rive” exports have been growing since the introduction of the category in 2010 — together with the growing production of the category. Around a quarter of the “Rive” bottles produced is being exported yearly. This means 75% of “Rive” is consumed in Italy where the prices for these wines are way more affordable. This is especially true for €7-10 price range — being around 30% of “Rive” production in 2015, only 4,6% made it to the distribution channels.
The price difference between ex-cellar prices for “Rive” wines and Prosecco DOCG normally falls into €1-3 range.
“Partly this increase is caused by lower production and bigger costs associated with manual labor. While Prosecco Superiore DOCG wines are also often produced by hand, it’s important to understand that in “Rive” vineyards you cannot use machinery at all: neither for grass management, nor for moving the boxes with grapes and such. All the treatments have to be applied by hand too”, — says Mirko Della Colletta. “It’s about 8-9 times more labour-intense to produce wines from these hills than from flatlands,” — adds Vanessa Follador . “It’s just normal that “Rive” wines cost more”.
The future
Prosecco DOCG producers tend to avoid the subject of competition between Champagne and Prosecco. But with a more terroir-driven, communal and even single vineyard approach, this competition will become more and more evident. It’s worth mentioning some producers go as far as “uprooting” the Prosecco name form their labels altogether. The appellation rules actually allow them to do so: some labels simply read Valdobbiadene DOCG and the name of a specific Riva as it’s with Roccat and Umberto Bortolotti. The extreme side of it is Bepin de Eto — the winery produces its Rive di Rua closer to the town of Conegliano without any reference to the Conegliano-Valdobbiadene DOCG on the front label. Could there be a stronger “Rive” message to the world?
It’s wineries with a clear passion for quality and terroir that are going to define the fine “Rive” wines in years to come. They will also have to confront the stereotypes associated with Prosecco. Investing in abandoned vineyards that used to produce fine wines before the Second World War is a way to move forward for such producers as Zardetto that bought just 7 hectares of vines and a small property in the San Mor area in 2013. “We chose this area to invest is the unique climate, this is a weird territory, in the 50-s there were vineyards everywhere, later they were largely abandoned. Our grandfathers knew it was a good area for vines. Our wines should be gentle, fine, delicate, not just suitable for aperitif. We want Prosecco to be the wine for the whole lunch,” — says Filippo Zardetto.
It will take years for the international markets to “digest” the new category of Prosecco Superiore quality. “The production is not in big numbers, but it’s increasing,” — says Lodovico Giustiniani.
Not all the “Rive” communes are currently producing “Rive” wines, among them are Colle Umberto, Miane, San Vendemiano and Tarzo. Wishing to guarantee the hill location of the classified vineyards, Consorzio is also thinking to exclude some flatland areas from the current “Rive” zones. All of this leads to a more distinctive zoning of the Conegliano-Valdobbiadene territories.
For many wine producers a less pricey and less sweet “Rive” category is allowing to replace the expensive and traditionally sweet and limited Cartizze production, become less dependent on bought-in grapes and seek new terroirs best fit for the Glera grape.
“Knowing Rive is knowing the Prosecco territory, it’s moving towards deeper understanding of the area,” — says Innocente Nardi. “This is a very cultural aspect. A lot of people know Prosecco, but not so many know about Conegliano-Valdobbiadene, and even fewer know about Rive”.