Best Prosecco 2023: award-winning DOCG Prosecco wines to try

Trying to find the best Prosecco among the sea of choice is a challenge for even the most fanatical sparkling wine lover. The choice is extraordinary, particularly when you consider that hardly anyone outside Italy drank Prosecco a couple of decades ago.

But it’s important to know that not all Proseccos are created equal – the really good stuff has the slightly harder-to-pronounce title Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita).

Located in the foothills of the Dolomites in north-east Italy, this Unesco World Heritage site sits above the towns of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene and above the lower-altitude vineyards where basic DOC Prosecco is made.

farra di soglio hills with prosecco vineyards in veneto, italy — The Farra di Soligo hills in Veneto, italy, where you'll find Prosecco vineyards

DOCG Prosecco is much rarer than its DOC equivalent. For a start, production of DOCG is much lower (less than 20%) than DOC, vineyard yields are lower and there’s a much tighter focus on terroir. What do they have in common? They’re both made with the same grape variety – Glera – and are both made in the same way, with the second fermentation in tank.

These top-end DOCG Proseccos performed with plenty of sparkle at this year’s IWSC, with a handful of Gold medal winners and plenty of Silvers on show. Carpenè Malvolti’s 1868 Rive di San Pietro di Barbozza Brut 2021 scored 95/100, wowing the IWSC judges with its ‘lingering complex finish.’

The Bisol1542 Dry 2022 also scored a Gold medal, bringing ‘sweet almond, lemon and hints of chalk’, while the delicate Biancavigna Rive di Collalto Extra Dry 2021 combined ‘grapefruit, white blossom, aniseed, and some minerality’ with citrus and stonefruit.

Every bottle of DOCG Prosecco at this year’s IWSC was judged blind by a top panel of experts from all corners of the wine trade. Chairing the panel was Sarah Abbott MW, joined by Master Sommelier Matteo Montone, Wine Society buyer Freddy Bulmer and managing director at Woodwinters Andrew Johnson.

Dig a little deeper and you’ll realise that there’s more to Prosecco than first meets the eye, and these bottles really show off the best the region has to offer. We’re proud to present the pick of DOCG Prosecco from this year’s IWSC.

How do we judge these wines?

We run a tightly structured, rigorous wine tasting process. That means that each wine sample is pre-poured into numbered glasses and assessed blindly by the judges. Most importantly, our IWSC wine judges are experts in their field, who work across all sectors of the wine industry. For evidence, see our full list of judges.

How do we score these wines?

Only the best wines sampled receive a Gold or Silver award. For example, to win Gold, wines have to score between 95 and 100 points. Meanwhile, Silver wines range from 90 to 94 points. Click here to read more on our scoring system.

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