A new wine style for a new year: Prosecco rosé is a thing now
The world-famous Italian sparkler has been shaken up in recent years by a regulatory change that allows for vintners to blend pinot noir into their prosecco bases.
As we prepare to leave 2025 behind, it’s time to make sure you have some bubbles ready. With freshness, verve, and just a hint of new beginnings, this prosecco rosé makes a nice change of pace for this year’s midnight toasts.
Prosecco used to be a specialty of Venice that was always white — never pink — and was only familiar to locals and those who visited Venice in person. However, it has since become an international sensation and is now one of the top-selling sparkling wines on earth.
Like most sparkling wines, prosecco is made from grapes that are picked when underripe in order to preserve crisp acidity and prevent the development of excess alcohol during their double-fermentation production process. Unlike others — French Champagne or Spanish cava, namely — it has always been made using the more economical Charmat process for its second fermentation. Lower prices were not prosecco’s only appeal though: The key to its success has been that it is rarely made in the dry “brut” style, but rather retains a faint touch of sweetness, giving its orchard-fresh apple and pear flavors extra succulence and charm.
The massive increase in Prosecco’s popularity in the past 25 years has spurred innovation and led to a 2020 regulatory change to make prosecco rosé possible. Prosecco wines were historically made using only the green glera grape of northern Italy, but are now permitted to blend up to 15% pinot nero (aka pinot noir) into white glera wine in order to turn it pink.
In its flavor and scent, the dominant flavors of this wine are squarely in the classic prosecco profile, tasting of green apples, white peaches, and jasmine tea. But its dollop of pinot nero adds a lively scent of fresh-cut strawberries, like a preview of the coming spring and all the possibilities of a new year.
La Marca prosecco Rosé
Veneto, Italy; 11% ABV
PLCB Item # 98896, on sale for $17.99 through Jan. 4 (regularly $19.99)
Also available at: Canal’s in Pennsauken ($15.01; canalsliquors.com), Total Wine & More in Cherry Hill ($15.07; totalwine.com), and Wine Warehouse in Clementon, N.J. ($15.98; winewarehousenj.com)