Passerina

In May 2010, we encountered the first mention of Passerina at Castel Cosimo winemerchants in Hamburg and vowed to keep a look out for this variety in the future. Thanks to the Marche stand at the London International Wine Fair, we finally caught up with Passerina and were reasonably impressed, so without instant admission to the Slotovino Hall of Fame, we can recommend Passerina as yet another fine Italian regional variety worthy of a visit.

We would also like to add the Spumante version to those looking for an alternative to Prosecco. We have noted before that such is the quantity of Prosecco produced that it is quite a lottery to find a good one. In short it has become a brand and discrimination has been left at the door.


We are building up quite a good list of Italian Sparkling wines which are good alternatives to Prosecco. We now have

Passerina
Pignoletto
Spergola

not to mention Franciacorta which is the Italian's attempt at Champagne and quite often quite a superior product.