2021 Masottina RDO Levante Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore 750 ml

There are friends you meet for drinks, and there are friends you bring to dinner. The same applies for wine.

Most Prosecco falls in the former category: It’s trusted to kick off the night with effervescent fun, but once the orders have been placed or the oven timer sounds, the flutes are whisked away. Out comes the Chablis, the Brunello, the Burgundy.

But the 2021 Masottina R.D.O Levante is main-event material.

This is the only Prosecco to ever break the Wine Spectator Top 100, a best-in-class bottling that also won 97 points at the Decanter World Wine Awards—the highest score ever awarded to a Prosecco. Creamy, round, and elegant, with the faintest hint of spice, it’s a serious sparkling wine, artisanally crafted from 50-year-old vines on a single site in arguably the most prestigious cru of the region. 

Masottina is the producer, founded in 1946 by the Dal Bianco family and currently run by third-generation winemakers. A legendary institution in the region, they rely on hand-harvesting to bring Glera grapes in from the steep vineyards, and employ a gravity-feed system that reduces the wine’s exposure to oxygen, preserving freshness and nuance.

R.D.O stands for “Rive di Ogliano”—the supreme expression of Masottina’s wines. “Rive” is a relatively recent term that refers to a series of tiny terroir-specific hamlets usually situated on precipitous hillsides in Conegliano Valdobbiadene. This bottling hails from the village of Ogliano, the steepest in the region and one richly appointed with rare, well-draining glacial soils.  

Pour this with lobster and butter, with grilled scallops, with creamy shrimp scampi. Whatever you do, bring it to dinner—it’s a winner.