A story of sparklers

Originally, Prosecco was a local a variety that rural families of the area between Conegliano and Valdobbiadene (province of Treviso) used for their own consumption. It was a still wine that tended to naturally develop its sparkling characteristic after a light natural fermentation inside barrels.
In the mid-19th century, Antonio Carpenè Sr (1838-1902), a passionate chemist, enologist and Clara’s great grandfather, started studying the Prosecco grape variety envisaging the production of a sparkling wine. He developed connections with eminent Italian and international chemists and enologists of the time. Thanks to this experience, he contributed to the foundation of the first school of enology in Italy, he experimented and innovated in the field of enological chemistry, also thanks to his collaboration with Pasteur.
In fact, until the 19th century, only one method was known and used to produce sparkling wine: the Classic (champenoise) Method, which required 2 years of refermentation directly in the bottle using yeasts. With this process and in such a long refermentation time, the fresh perfumes typical of Prosecco evanished, depriving the wine of the unique feature of these grapes.
It was then Antonio Carpenè Jr (1913-2010) Clara’s father, who started the industrial production of Prosecco with secondary fermentation inside stainless steel tanks. In the 20th century, such new technology for the production of sparklers became available, and the Carpenè family perfectioned and adapted it for the Prosecco variety (the so-called Carpenè method, then Martinotti method). This innovation opened to a new scenario for the production of sparkling Prosecco and, in the 50s, Antonio Carpenè Jr marked the decisive turning point with the modern and stable Italian method for the production of Prosecco sparklers with secondary fermentation in stainless steel tanks.