Piane not-so-forte

Coste Piane Prosecco di Valdobbiadene (Veneto) – The dullest bottle from this producer that I’ve ever had. Let’s put that in context: it’s a saline dust devil, practiced in avoidance while jabbing its point home, layering fine particulate sprays of sand on the palate, then swirling away once again. But it’s muted, rectitudinous, even a little surly. Possibly a non-representative bottle. I hope it is, anyway, because when their wines are on form, they’re very special. (2/11)

Admiral Adami

Adami 2008 Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Vigneto Giardino (Veneto) – Among the best prosecco I’ve tasted (the prime example still being the house pour at Corte Sconta in Venice), with crystallized minerality and chalk swimming about a dryish memory-of-citrus froth. Not so much linear as helixed, but still unidirectional in the four-dimensional plane. (Translation of the previous nonsense: quite good.) (12/10)

Canavel cruises

Canevel Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Brut (Veneto) – Dry, sharp, and clean. Pretty basic, but good enough. (10/07)

How much does it Coste?

Casa Coste Piane 2006 Prosecco di Valdobbiadene “Tranquillo” (Veneto) – Dry as a desert, and rather desert-like in its lack of visible life. I liked this wine a lot more last month. (7/09)

Nicene Crede

Bisol Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Crede Brut (Veneto) – Soft and yeasty; a pleasant froth of melon and honeydew. Pretty but ultimately insignificant. (2/07)

Commander Adami

Adami Prosecco di Valdobbiadene “Sur Lie” (Veneto) – Tart and papery. Segmented, and the lack of cohesion renders the wine a little flat. Unserious Prosecco is fine, but it needs to taste alive. This tastes like it’s trying for some sort of profundity, but if so it’s a failure in that regard. It simply comes across as deadened. (5/07)