A group of Prosecco di Asolo producers are announcing a tough battle in all the venues in defense of their traditional product now famous all over the world. The group of purists in defense of tradition took to the field in arms against the vote of the assembly of the Asolo Montello Consortium, which last June 30 voted on the proposal to introduce the "Asolo Prosecco Rosè" typology in the Asolo Docg specification .
In a letter sent to Minister Patuanelli, to the undersecretaries Centinaio, to the President of the Zaia Region, to the regional councilor for agriculture Caner, to the presidents of Confragricoltura and Coldiretti, they denounce their "clear opposition to an operation that was voted in the opposite direction by 2/3 of the members participating in the assembly. This operation, in fact, does not favor the identity and quality of the vineyards, nor does it add value to what has now become one of the main sparkling wine denominations in Italy, but rather risks turning into a purely commercial initiative that flattens the Asolo Docg to the great numbers of the Doc, generating considerable confusion also and above all in the consumer, nullifying all the efforts made up to now to make people understand the difference between Docg and Doc".
According to the signatories of the letter, "this questionable initiative" takes no account of the historicity of the denomination, "thanks to which we have been awarded the mention of Prosecco Docg Superiore and which truly allows us to proudly exhibit a value which is the flower of the crown of our companies and our vineyards”.
Among other things, for the group of protesters, the "Asolo Prosecco Rosè Docg" project would not even be "remotely representative of our territory, given the scarcity of Pinot Noir vineyards", with the consequence that in a market scenario that is increasingly aware and attentive to authenticity, this new category would undermine "the very credibility of what we have painstakingly built and would in a certain way betray the pact of trust that binds us to our consumers, who we have always welcomed and accompanied by the hand to discovery of our territory, which is rich and unique, with all its specificities that constitute an essential and invaluable value".
Going back to the vote of last June 30, the signatories of the appeal believe it is completely incongruous that it was "the weight of voters (for which the number of bottles produced was taken into account), to the detriment of the evaluation of the actual numerical representation of the shareholders" complaining that the preference for volumes and numbers at the expense of quality and excellence, "may prove to be a poorly strategic choice, in the medium and long term", also contesting the way in which the important topic "without a prior discussion and without meetings between the trade associations and producers having been convened" and finally denounce that "this hypothesis involves the need to plant new vineyards with a strong impact on the territory and the landscape, as well as on the social fabric".
