Region & History

What exactly is Prosecco, and where does it come from? It comes from northeastern Italy, from the land around Treviso, and it's a mass phenomenon: the Prosecco DOC consortium sold 667 million bottles in 2025. Of those, 60.4 million were Rosé, which has only existed since 2020. Champagne and Cava combined come to significantly less.

The origin is broadly defined. Since the ministerial decree of July 17, 2009, the DOC has covered nine provinces, five in Veneto (Belluno, Padua, Treviso, Venice and Vicenza) and four in Friuli. The heart lies between the Piave and the foothills of the Alps. The hills around Conegliano and Valdobbiadene form a separate, higher-ranked appellation, covered by another region on this journey.

Two figures show how fast the growth was. In 2014 the consortium reported 306.6 million bottles, 27 percent more than the year before. Today it's more than double that. Mionetto, a house from Valdobbiadene that has belonged to Henkell Freixenet since May 2008, brought Prosecco into the American mass market in 2000. The US remains its most important market to this day.

Behind the bottles stands a broad structure. According to the consortium's figures for 2023, the vines cover 28,100 hectares, 11,969 grape growers supply fruit, 1,148 estates vinify it, and 355 houses bottle it as sparkling wine. More than 82 percent of the bottles go to export, to 164 countries.

At the foot of Monte Grappa, around Asolo, lies a second, smaller area with higher rank. Asolo Prosecco Superiore was recognized as a DOCG in 2009, then still under the name Colli Asolani, and has been named after the small town since 2014. The hills are its hallmark; the bulk production lies elsewhere.