Appears in
Oxford Companion to Wine

By Jancis Robinson

Published 2006

  • About

Italian word for sparkling wine from the verb spumare, to foam or froth, which can appear on labels as Vino Spumante, Vino Spumante di Qualità, or Vino Spumante di Qualità followed by a denomination of origin. It is allowed only for wines made sparkling by a second fermentation, either in bottle (metodo classico) or by the tank method (see sparkling winemaking). The most important example in terms of volume is prosecco, of which 300 million bottles were produced in 2013. Second best-selling is asti made from the moscato Bianco grape cultivated in the provinces of Asti, Cuneo, and Alessandria, of which over 80 million bottles may be made in an average year.