Italy

Three families of Italian sparkling wine

Italian sparkling appellations fall into three broad groups by method.

• Traditional method. Franciacorta, Trento, Alta Langa and Oltrepò Pavese Metodo Classico require the second fermentation in the bottle.^1,2,6,7 Trento DOC, recognised in 1993, is described in its disciplinare as the first Italian denomination reserved solely for bottle-fermented sparkling wine.² See traditional method.
• Tank method. Prosecco DOC and the two Prosecco DOCGs make their spumante by second fermentation in autoclave (pressure tank).^3,8,9 See tank method. Asti DOCG, from Moscato bianco, has its own process, described under Asti method.⁴
• Red and aromatic sparkling. The three Lambrusco DOCs of Modena and Brachetto d'Acqui DOCG allow refermentation in bottle or autoclave.^10,11,12,13 See sparkling red.

Appellations at a glance

Scale

Prosecco DOC reported 667 million bottles in 2025, of which 82% were exported.⁵ Conegliano Valdobbiadene produced over 92.4 million bottles in 2023 and Asolo 27.5 million.¹⁵ Trento DOC sold about 12.3 million bottles in 2024.¹⁶ No official national total for all Italian sparkling wine was verified for this page, so none is given.

Grapes

Traditional-method appellations rely on Chardonnay, Pinot Noir (Pinot nero) and Pinot Blanc.^1,2,6 Prosecco is based on Glera, Asti on Moscato bianco (Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains), and the red sparkling wines on the Lambrusco varieties and Brachetto.^3,4,13