Gianluca Bisol & The Rewriting of Prosecco
By W Peter Hoyne
Within the Veneto region of northern Italy are the hills of Valdobbiadene and the grand cru vineyards of Cartizze that rise into the heavens. It is here that the Glera grape achieves its ultimate expression in the wines of Prosecco. The Bisol name has echoed through these hills since the 16th century, long before Prosecco was a global fashion or a celebratory beverage. The Bisol family was convinced that all Prosecco was not equal and that there was a hierarchy of Prosecco from the soils and slopes of Cartizze. As growers, they understood the trademark of the earth.
After World War II, Elseo Bisol’s son Desiderio, nicknamed Jeio, acquired the best parcels of land in Valdobbiadene and Conegliano that expressed the authentic essence of this unique terroir. Conegliano Valdobbiadene is the spiritual homeland of Prosecco Superiore. Jeio’s expectation was to define the winery’s identity and the family’s history in this region.
Representing the 21st generation is Gianluca Bisol, the President and CEO of winery Bisol established in 1542. He inherited not only the legacy, but a cultural obligation to cultivate the finest Prosecco from their modest five-acre parcel of vineyards within the highest elevations of Cartizze.
I was introduced to Gianluca a few years back during my travels to Venice. He has a passionate disposition along with an unwavering commitment in searching for the ultimate expression of the Glera grape from Cartizze. In addition, he has a profound passion for preserving the cultural identity of Venice. His thoughts, achievements and emotions provided for an engaging discussion.
Gianluca professes that Prosecco is a symbol over all over Italy. Italians are very related to their hometown and place. It is part of who we are and where we are from. Values are transmitted.
I was curious about what inspired him to study marketing and economics in Venice and then pursue a path within his family’s business. According to Gianluca, “I was worried about the perception of wine 50 years ago, about Prosecco in the world and especially in Italy. I started to speak with opinion leaders and journalists about this area, and they had a very wrong perception. 99% of them thought Prosecco was cultivated in a very flat area. When they saw the steepness, elevation and wonderful landscape of Prosecco Superiore they were surprised.” These responses guided him in his mission to redefine the perception of Prosecco.
In 1963, Gianluca pioneered the consortium of Conegliano Valdobbiadene producers, obtaining the first Prosecco designation in 1969. By 2009, Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco was elevated to a DOCG status, Italy’s highest-quality designation for Prosecco. “With this strategy we closed a little bit the door of Prosecco because otherwise Prosecco was planted in every part of the world, like Pinot Grigio in the 60’s and 70’s. Pinot Grigio in the 50’s was only in Veneto and then vines were planted everywhere. I remember that many people asked me abroad to plant Prosecco in other states. I said no because Prosecco is original to my area.”
Gianluca’s grandfather Jeio inspired him to do more with Prosecco by separating the different plots of Glera vineyards according to the soils where they were grown.
“This was something incredible to accomplish 70 years ago. He inspired me in a better perception of the world of Prosecco.”
Thanks to him we are the only one to have a collection of five Prosecco Superiore from five different kinds of soils, sandstone, clay, moraine, gravel and limestone. Every time customers and wine lovers taste these five Prosecco Superiore from different soils they are surprised to see how very different the taste is from the same kind of grape grown in soils on the hills.
Gianluca’s family owns nearly five acres in the hills of Cartizze. “It is the magic hill of Prosecco because it is the only hill in which we can leave the grape for a longer maturation of about 7 to 8 to 9 days more without losing acidity. This hill is considered the best position for the grape Glera and thanks to this condition of the hill we can obtain the best expression of the original flower of the grape. Now, the hill is owned by 142 families with more or less than 160 acres.” According to Gianluca, the best location to grow Glera is Cartizze; only in this place can you obtain this incredible result.
As Gianluca describes it, there is, “sandy soil for about 80 cm and under that is marine rocks with marine fossils. Exactly exposed to the south and exactly in the middle of the lagoon of Venice and the Dolomites. During the day comes wonderful winds from the sea and during the night cold winds from the Dolomites.”
“Cartizze is a very rare version of Prosecco. There is only one bottle of Cartizze for every 800 bottles of Prosecco. In the end, people look for a dry version of Prosecco. People prefer this dry style of Prosecco because it is perfect for matching and preparing food.”
As far as its flavor profile “especially the major characteristic is the fruitiness. There is an incredibly wide range of flavors that comes from apple to exotic fruit, like lichee, mango, papaya and a differentiation of fruit flavors.”
I asked, when is the optimal time to drink Prosecco? “I love Prosecco after four or five years. Everyone wants to drink Prosecco early, but my opinion is that Prosecco starts to be very, very good one or two years after harvest. The wine becomes more round and less aggressive in the mouth. The more you wait, the more the fruit becomes round and the expression of all the sweetness more gentle and pleasant in the mouth and in the smell.”
I wondered what was Gianluca’s most challenging achievement in transforming the perception of Prosecco. “In 2009, I did my best to try to introduce Prosecco in London and I went to London when I was very young and asked many importers if they wanted to help me introduce Prosecco Valdobbiadene in the UK. They said no, no because no one knows this wine and no one wants to buy this wine because they don’t know it. So, if there is no demand for this wine then we can’t import your wine.
In the end I didn’t come back home, I insisted that I go to another side of the market. I realized that I had to create a demand from the consumer.
So, I convinced three of the best Italian restaurants in London to give a welcome drink to every one of their customers of my Prosecco.
And in the end, after three months, Prosecco became successful because the people in the UK said, ‘Wow, this is something very new.’ It is different from every other sparkling wine that I tried because before they only had Champagne or Cava. And after that they fell in love with it because it has a different characteristic in the world of bubbles.
“If you think about the word of bubbles, there is the king of the bubbles that is Champagne, and there are thousands and thousands of them from all around the world similar to Champagne, in California and Australia, and in Germany. Also in other regions of France or in Italy, now in the UK, or in South Africa. Every country in the world wants to do something similar to Champagne, using the same kind of grape, the same method of second fermentation in the bottle. Everything is similar to Champagne. With Prosecco, secondary fermentation occurs in the tank, not the bottle.
The only sparkling wine in the world that has nothing in common with Champagne is Prosecco. Prosecco uses a different kind of grape and a different kind of fermentation creating value not in the secondary fermentation with the flavor, but in the primary flavors. So, at the end, it's the only one sparkling wine in the world that is really original and different from Champagne.”
Gianluca has always been a visionary and is involved in several projects. He is cultivating the Dorona di Venezia grape on the Venetian lagoon island of Mazzorbo. This ancient walled vineyard is part of his Venissa Wine resort. Gianluca has also been cultivating exotic interpretations of the yellow Muscat grape between the Dolomites and Venice and at Vigna Major he is farming vineyards at extremely high elevations in the Dolomites. “Because of the altitude of the vineyards the vines are self-protected from mildew thanks to the ultraviolet rays of the sun. The wine is a real expression of the soil without any intervention of chemicals. It’s amazing the flavor and taste of the wine”.
As far as his legacy, Gianluca wants to be remembered as a person that has respected history and the efforts of the previous generation. His work is to give back delight, something that was amazing but forgotten by people. He wants to repeat the wonderful things that he has discovered.
Gianluca Bisol stands as the quiet architect behind Prosecco’s evolution — a steward who carried a family legacy into the modern era without surrendering its soul. Through his strategic vision he has elevated the standards of Prosecco across the denomination and the world. He helped redefine this sparkling beverage which was once underestimated and is now globally respected on the world stage.
