Silvano Follador Valdobbiadene Prosecco superiore docg Extra Brut 2022

Silvano and Alberta own a total of barely 4ha of vineyard, 1.5ha of which are in Cartizze. They work biodynamically without being too fanatical in this. Their Prosecco is of an uncommon purity of aroma and the fruity and floral notes come into their own here and you hardly notice that these wines are completely dry, so softly fruity and mouth-filling, flavourful and meanwhile particularly light-bodied. They are exceptionally fine wines of a class you would never expect from Prosecco.

Ian d’Agatha who wrote for i.e. Decanter and Vinous and is now chief editor of Terroirsense recently drank the 2021 in a restaurant and this is what he wrote: “As good as the food was, on this day the clearcut winner was one of the wines I chose: the Silvano Follador 2021 Prosecco Superiore Extra Brut is just an amazing sparkling wine that is so far removed from any Prosecco you have ever tasted that it is almost more correct not to call it a Prosecco at all. Silky and extremely well-delineated, with what peach and jasmine aromas and flavours that are deep and precise, it tastes much more like a very fine Blanc de Blancs from Champagne (think Taittinger’s brilliant Comtes de Champagne, and no, I’m not kidding) than it does of any other sparkling wine of the world. It’s just an amazing sparkling wine and easily one of the three best sparkling wines Italy makes.” 95/100

Ian d’Agatha: “Silvano Follador is in my opinion the single best producer of Prosecco today, though his recent decision to stop making Cartizze so as to focus on just one wine that would best express the denominazione’s potential and terroir is one that pains me immensely. That said, Follador is a true master of the Glera grape variety and the 20,000 bottles of wine he makes a year (he owns 3.5 hectares – 8.6 acres), made in a relatively drier style than most of his colleagues, are much sought after by wine lovers and collectors.”

Decanter: 91/100; James Suckling: 93/100; Wine Enthousiast: 90/100; Luca Gardini: 95/100; Ian d’Agatha (Vinous): 95/100; Gambero Rosso: Tre Bicchieri;…