Prosecco had an outstanding year in 2014, with global sales overtaking Champagne for the first time. But an Italian winemaking consortium maintains that prosecco may be flowing a bit too freely. It is demanding that British bars and pubs stop serving the bubbles on tap and return to selling it by the bottle.
The consortium maintains that selling prosecco on tap is illegal according to 2009 European Union regulations that detail strict guidelines over how it may be sold. The group has called upon the British Food Standards Agency and Intellectual Property Office to crack down on the ‘illegal’ marketing of prosecco in bars and pubs.
Luca Giavi, director of Valdobbiadene–Conegliano winemakers’ consortium, commented in the Telegraph, ‘If prosecco is sold on tap then it is no longer prosecco—it needs to be served directly from the bottle. We’re just trying to protect consumers—if they order a glass of prosecco, then that is what they should be getting. We’re safeguarding the reputation of prosecco—the producers of Champagne or Chianti or Barolo would do the same for their wines.”
The Italian government, which has already raised the issue with the United Kingdom, is expected to address it again, in Italian parliament, in wake of a British media report over the popularity of prosecco by the glass.
