2022 Wine Judging: Tasting the sparkling wines of Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore

Over the past few days, several IWSC judges have been in the Northeast of Italy in Conegliano Valdobbiadene, tasting entrants from the very heart of the Prosecco Superiore DOCG.

In just under three days, our judging panel which was led by Sarah Abbott MW, and comprised David Kermode, Matteo Montone MS, Salvatore Castano and Andrew Johnson tasted their way through sparkling wine entrants from across the 15 communes of the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Docg.

The results from the judging will be announced on Monday 30 May, but ahead of this we caught up with Sarah Abbott MW to hear her thoughts on how this unique judging event had gone:

“The number, diversity and quality of entries was high. We judged more wines than in previous years, and in particular we were asked to judge more specialist and premium categories, including Rive, Metodo Classico, Sui Lieviti, and Cartizze.

“Without giving too much away before the results are published, I can share that overall, the quality was consistently good. There were very few wines that didn’t hit the mark. Mostly the entrants were well made and enjoyable, and I’d describe many as being a stylish wine of nuance and balance.

“The newer categories of Extra Brut and Brut delivered nervy, delicate wines and it was exciting to have so many wines entered from premium categories of Rive and Cartizze. Such wines are an incredibly small proportion of the total production, but they are very important for showing the ambition and character that can be found in Prosecco Superiore. It was exciting to have so many of these wines to judge, and their quality and character is reflected in the medal tally.”

The results from the tasting with Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG will be announced on Monday 30 May on the IWSC website.