2022 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 Masottina’s  R.D.O Levante is main-event material.

This was the first Prosecco to ever break the Wine Spectator Top 100—it’s true a best-in-class bottling. Creamy, round, and elegant with the faintest hint of spice, it’s a serious and deep sparkling wine, artisanally crafted from 50-year-old vines from 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-fed winery that preserves the wine’s freshness and nuance.

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

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