"Not a good cocktail". Thus the American newspaper The New York Times a few days ago he struck down the Spritz, the trendiest aperitif of the moment in the USA, a nation that adores everything that has to do with Italy, from trendy food to furniture, but above all theItalian life style, that way of life, so unique and characteristic of the Belpaese. Thousands have risen up in defense of Spritz, with comments on social media against the article signed by journalist Rebekah Peppler.

But always The New York Times Spritz was crowned as a "2018 aperitif": what happened in the space of a few months? To tell the truth, the article is not against the cocktail itself, but rather criticizes the use of cheap Prosecco in the preparation. And we can only agree: if in the kitchen we prepare excellent dishes only starting from excellent ingredients, to drink a quality Spritz, we must start with an excellent Prosecco. Indeed from best Prosecco Superiore.

Brief history of the Spritz

It seems that the Spritz drinking fashion began in the nineteenth century, when Austrian soldiers in Veneto began to "spray"Italian white wine with sparkling water to dilute it a little (spritzen, in German, means spray). A very pleasant drink, but something was missing. That "something" was a touch of bitters, of bitter, which came with the invention developed in 1919 in Bassano del Grappa by the Barbieri brothers, who created an alcoholic infusion with about thirty secret ingredients, including orange peel, roots, herbs and spices.

It was a success and the Spritz became the inevitable orange drink on the tables of the Venetian bars, also in red, in the original Venetian variant that foresees the use of the Select – also by Campari – instead of the Aperol. A colorful wave that from the Veneto has spread first along the boot and then in clubs around the world, for an irresistible "Aperitif time" in Italian style.

Better if Superior

In short, "You can't think well, love well, sleep well, if you haven't eaten – and drunk (ed)- well". As Virginia Woolf wrote, quality, beauty and pleasure always go hand in hand. And in the preparation of Spritz we start from the choice of Prosecco, a must-have ingredient, very imitated but irreplaceable. In a hypothetical quality pyramid, at the base we find in fact the vineyards of the plains of Veneto and Friuli that produce Prosecco DOC and at the top, from the more steep hills of Valdobbiadene, Conegliano and Asolo, Prosecco Superiore DOCG. The vineyards of Valdobbiadene in particular differ from the others in their height and slope, characteristics that guarantee perfect exposure and maturation to the grapes. The strong temperature changes, due to the particular position halfway between Venice and Cortina and to the fresh winds that blow from the Dolomites, allow to better enhance the varietal characteristics of glera, the main grape variety used to produce Prosecco. Only from the steepest vineyards, heroically and rigorously cultivated by hand, are born the different and unique nuances of Prosecco Superiore.

Recipe

How to prepare the ideal Spritz? We asked him to Bisol1542, historic company for the production of Prosecco Superiore, born in 1542 in the heart of heroics hills of Valdobbiadene. "First you need to choose the type of Prosecco Superiore, which must always be of the highest quality," they tell us. "Our Brut He believes it is the driest type, with a sugar residue of 7.5 g / l, from clayey, fresh, sapid, fine soils; the Molera Extra Dry, softer, comes from calcareous soils and has a delicate texture, with a broad floral bouquet and a creamy and persuasive perlage; while the typology Dry it is fully characterized in the Cartizze, the maximum expression of the territory, with an intense and elegant sip ". "We propose a Spritz based on Molera Prosecco Superiore DOCG Bisol 1542 (7.5 cl), which we mix with Select (5 cl) and Seltz (2.5 cl) and complete with ice and, to taste, with 1 green olive or 1 slice of lemon ".

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