The Glera Grape

Anybody who’s been keeping track of the Italian wine industry in recent years will have noticed the continued rise of Prosecco. Once seen as the cheaper and less desirable alternative to France’s Champagne, Prosecco has now become the world’s most popular type of sparkling white wine.

And it’s not due to the lower price alone. The simple fact of the matter is that people are now starting to recognise Prosecco for the many qualities that it has. This is particularly the case in the United Kingdom, where it is the most popular wine of any type in the country.

But what lies behind the success of Prosecco? Great wines combined with great marketing certainly play a part, as does the dedication of the many people who produce the wine.

But, as with all wines, it all comes down to the quality of the grape. In Prosecco’s case, that grape is Glera and we’re going to take a closer look at it in this article.

Strange Beginnings

Many of the wines that are used in the most popular of Italian wines have distinctly Italian origins. Those that don’t were often brought to the country by the empires that could it home over the centuries. These include people like the Ancient Greeks and Etruscans.

Glera has a slightly different origin. The grape actually originates in Slovenia, which is located in central Europe. How it came to find its way into Italy is a source of dispute, but most Italian wine scholars agree that the grape was being widely cultivated in the country by the time the Romans had control of the territory. In fact, some scholars believe that Pliny the Elder singled the grape out for praise many hundreds of years ago.

Its name also presents a strange case. For the majority of the time that it’s been known as an Italian wine grape, Glera actually held the name of the Prosecco region. Nobody called it Glera at all. In fact, this naming convention lasted all of the way up until 2009, which can lead to the mistaken belief that the Glera grape is actually a newcomer to the Italian wine industry. Nothing could be further from the truth, as it’s generally agreed that the grape is among the oldest to be cultivated in the country.

It’s also one of the most important, with analysts ranking it at about number 30 of the 2,000 grape varieties that come out of Italy. Though it’s used in a variety of wines, it’s like the Glera grapes use in Prosecco that has allowed it to gain such a high standing.

The Grape Itself

As for the grape, most look at it as something of a neutral variety, which means it doesn’t exhibit remarkably strong flavours. That’s not to say that it has no flavour at all of course, but it does mean that Italian winemakers can use the grape to make their wines more palatable. Again, this likely provides some explanation as to why Prosecco is such a popular wine. Almost anybody can pick it up and enjoy it, likely due to the neutrality of the grape.

It’s primarily grown in the Veneto region of Italy, with an area just to the north of Treviso being responsible for most of the country’s Glera production. The traditional growing location is an area that falls somewhere between Conegliano and Valdobbiadene, though the rising popularity of Prosecco has led to the grape expanding its horizons somewhat in recent years.

The Name Change

You may wonder why the name of the grape changed from Prosecco to Glera in 2009. It all comes down to the DOC.

You see, during this period the region’s Prosecco producers were looking to obtain DOCG status for a select few of the Prosecco wines. This is where the name of the grape became a problem. When Prosecco di Conegliano e Valdobbiadine sought DOCG status, the fact that the Prosecco region has expanded so much presented a small problem. The presence of an IGT region surrounding the proposed DOCG region could have prevented the Prosecco di Conegliano e Valdobbiadine from achieving the designation.

The simple solution to this was to rename the Prosecco grape Glera, thus taking away the roadblock. The name change served an alternative purpose as well. You see, other wine producers from outside the region could technically call their wines Prosecco based on the name of the grape, even though the wines they produced weren’t actually Prosecco wines at all. This could have caused confusion amongst consumers, which would have damaged the good name of the wine. The name change managed to get rid of that problem, allowing Prosecco to become the wine brand and Glera to stand as the name of the grape used to produce it.

What We Love About Prosecco

So, now you know about the grape, let’s take a look at the wine that it’s most famous for. Of course, Glera is used in various quantities in some other wines as well, but it will be forever liked to Prosecco.

But why has the wine become so popular?

We believe that the neutrality of the grape has played an enormous role in this popularity. Prosecco is one of the easiest wines in the world to drink. While it offers plenty of flavour, it’s nowhere near as complex or intimidating as many other Italian wines, particularly those of the red variety. As a result, people who wouldn’t traditionally be wine drinkers will find themselves enjoying Prosecco just because of how accessible and easy to drink it is.

The reputation of the wine has also enjoyed a boost over the last decade or so. It has cast off the underserved reputation of being a poor man’s Champagne and has ascended to the pinnacle of the wine industry on its own merits. Prosecco is a high-quality wine and the last few years have shown that more and more people recognise this fact.

Most importantly, all of this comes because of the quality of the Glera grape. It may have a fairly new name, but this grape has an undeniable place in the history of the Italian wine industry.