Michael Goldstein Jul 25, 2021

Prosecco Rosé, explained

Prosecco Rosé became legal in 2020. The rules: 10 to 15% Pinot Nero, a vintage on every bottle, Brut Nature to Extra Dry only.

Pink Prosecco has been legal only since 2020. Here is what the rules require, why every bottle carries a year, and how to tell the real thing from pink fizz in a Prosecco-shaped bottle.

Pick up a bottle of Prosecco Rosé in any American wine aisle and turn it in your hand. Somewhere on the front, usually in small letters near the bottom, you will find the word Millesimato and a year. Most white Prosecco doesn't bother. On the pink one it is compulsory, and that one word tells you a lot about how young, how regulated and how particular this wine is.

Prosecco Rosé is not old-school anything. It is the newest official style of Prosecco, written into the rules in 2020, and the rules are unusually specific. That is good news for you. Once you know the five or six things the law insists on, you can read any pink Prosecco label in about four seconds.

Before 2020, there was no such thing

The Prosecco region has made pink sparkling wine for years. It just could not call it Prosecco. The Prosecco DOC rules approved in July 2009 covered still, sparkling and semi-sparkling Prosecco, all of them white. A winery that made something pink had to sell it under another name.

That changed in 2020. Italy's national wine committee approved the new rosé type unanimously, which the Prosecco DOC Consorzio (the producers' body that runs the appellation) announced in May 2020. The change became law by ministerial decree on 31 July 2020, published in Italy's Official Gazette on 11 August 2020, and the EU published it on 28 October 2020. The Consorzio expected up to 30 million bottles a year.

Two details matter here. Prosecco Rosé exists only inside the big Prosecco DOC, the zone that covers nine provinces across the Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia. And it exists only as spumante, fully sparkling. There is no rosé frizzante and no still rosé Prosecco.

The recipe: Glera plus 10 to 15% Pinot Nero

Ordinary Prosecco is built on Glera, a white grape (we explain it in our Glera guide). Prosecco Rosé keeps Glera as the base and adds a red grape for colour:

  • Glera: at least 85% and no more than 90%.
  • Pinot Nero (Pinot Noir): at least 10% and no more than 15%, and it must be vinificato in rosso, fermented with its skins like a red wine. That is where the colour and the red-fruit notes come from.

There is a small irony here. White Prosecco may also contain Pinot Nero, but only vinificato in bianco: pressed off its skins so it makes no colour at all. Same grape, two jobs.

The rules then set the method. The second fermentation, the one that makes the bubbles, must happen in a pressurised tank (the Martinotti or Charmat method), and for the rosé it must last at least 60 days. The finished wine needs at least 11% alcohol. The law even describes the colour, rosa tenue più o meno intenso: pale pink, more or less intense. Nobody is allowed to sell you a Prosecco the colour of a cranberry.

How should it taste? The Consorzio describes the usual Prosecco white flowers, apple and citrus, with strawberry and raspberry from the Pinot Nero, and a rounder, fuller feel than the white. That is the official description, not our tasting note.

Prosecco DOC (white spumante)Prosecco DOC Rosé
GrapesGlera, with up to 15% of eight permitted others85 to 90% Glera, 10 to 15% Pinot Nero fermented on skins
BubblesSpumante; frizzante and still versions also existSpumante only
MethodTank (Martinotti/Charmat)Tank, at least 60 days
Vintage on labelOptionalCompulsory, with "Millesimato"
Sweetness terms allowedBrut Nature, Extra Brut, Brut, Extra Dry, Dry, Demi-SecBrut Nature, Extra Brut, Brut, Extra Dry
Maximum grape yield18 tonnes per hectare18 t/ha for Glera, 13.5 t/ha for Pinot Nero
Minimum alcohol11%11%

Source: Prosecco DOC production rules, arts. 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7.

Why every bottle says Millesimato

Millesimato means vintage-dated. Under the rules, at least 85% of the wine must come from the year on the label. On white Prosecco spumante that is an option a producer may choose. On Prosecco Rosé it is required: the label must carry the term and the year. The Consorzio puts it proudly: the rosé is "Millesimato" because it is always made that way.

Don't read it as "reserve" or "special". It is a birth certificate, not a medal. What it gives you is a freshness check, which is useful because Prosecco Rosé, like most tank-method Prosecco, is made to be drunk young. Under the rules it may go on sale from 1 January after the harvest, and in some years the regions may bring that forward by up to three months. So in the spring of 2027 the newest bottles on the shelf should say 2026.

Our view: buy the youngest year you can find. A two-year-old Prosecco Rosé is not ruined, but you bought this wine for its brightness, and brightness fades.

Sweetness: Brut Nature to Extra Dry, and nothing sweeter

White Prosecco DOC spumante can be made in six sweetness styles. The rosé gets only the four driest. Dry and Demi-Sec, the two sweetest, are not allowed.

The words come from EU law, which sets the sugar ranges for all sparkling wine. The trap is the usual Prosecco one: "Extra Dry" is sweeter than "Brut". (Our sweetness guide explains why the names run backwards.)

Label wordResidual sugar (EU rule)Allowed for Prosecco Rosé?In plain English
Brut Natureunder 3 g/l, no sugar added after the second fermentationYesBone dry
Extra Brut0 to 6 g/lYesVery dry
Brutunder 12 g/lYesDry
Extra Dry12 to 17 g/lYesOff-dry, softer
Dry17 to 32 g/lNoNoticeably sweet
Demi-Sec32 to 50 g/lNoSweet

Sources: Regulation (EU) 2019/33, Annex III Part B; Prosecco DOC rules, art. 5.

We think Brut suits this wine best: the Pinot Nero brings enough fruit that it doesn't need much sugar on top. If you like your fizz softer, Extra Dry is the sweetest Prosecco Rosé gets.

Only DOC: the hills don't make Prosecco Rosé

Here is the part almost no one explains. The two Prosecco Superiore DOCGs, Conegliano Valdobbiadene and Asolo, are the hill zones where the most expensive Prosecco comes from. Their rules list no rosé type at all. So there is no such thing as "Prosecco Superiore Rosé" or "Valdobbiadene Rosé" (our map of the zones shows where they are).

That doesn't stop hill wineries from making pink sparkling wine. It means that what they make is something else. Two examples from our directory:

  • Bogana (AMA), an Asolo DOCG producer, makes a Rosé Spumante from 100% Pinot Noir. Good wine, perhaps, but not Prosecco.
  • Andrea Da Ponte sells a Rosé Brut under the Venezia DOC, again not Prosecco.

Both are honestly labelled. The confusion happens in your head, because the bottle looks like its Prosecco siblings and sits next to them.

How to spot the real thing on a US shelf

A genuine Prosecco Rosé will show all of these:

  1. "Prosecco" and "Denominazione di Origine Controllata" (or DOC). Not DOCG.
  2. "Rosé" next to the name.
  3. "Millesimato" and a year. If there is no year, it is not Prosecco Rosé.
  4. One of the four sweetness words: Brut Nature, Extra Brut, Brut or Extra Dry.
  5. The numbered state strip on the neck, which the Consorzio says every bottle of Prosecco DOC carries as a guarantee of origin.

If the label says "Sparkling Rosé", "Rosé Spumante" or "Vino Spumante" without the word Prosecco, or names a different DOC, you are holding pink fizz, not Prosecco Rosé. It may still be lovely.

What should it cost? Prosecco Rosé is priced like everyday Prosecco. Astoria's Prosecco Rosé DOC, 85% Glera and 15% Pinot Noir, launched in the US in 2021 at a suggested $14.99. Delivery listings for Total Wine stores showed La Marca's Prosecco Rosé at about $16.50 to $18.50 in October 2026. In Italy, Borgo Antico, a Conegliano family winery, sells its Le Spezie Rosé Brut (85% Glera, 15% Pinot Noir) at the cellar door for €9.50 (roughly $11).

Prices: euro prices are what the winery charges, with a rough dollar figure at about $1.14 to the euro (October 2026). In the US, expect more on the shelf once shipping, the 15% tariff on EU wine, importer and distributor margins and taxes are added.

For more producers, see the Prosecco producer directory, and for stores, where to buy Prosecco in the US.

What to drink it with

Treat it as you would a dry, fruity rosé with bubbles: cold, in a white-wine glass rather than a narrow flute, and with food that likes a little red fruit. Salmon, prosciutto, a tomato salad, a pizza. Brut and Extra Brut bottles work with savoury food; an Extra Dry is the one for strawberries. Our serving guide covers temperature and glasses.

Quick answers

When did Prosecco Rosé become official? In 2020. Italy's decree of 31 July 2020, published on 11 August 2020, added "Prosecco spumante rosé" to the Prosecco DOC rules.

What grapes are in Prosecco Rosé? 85 to 90% Glera and 10 to 15% Pinot Nero (Pinot Noir), with the Pinot Nero fermented on its skins to give the colour.

Why does Prosecco Rosé always say Millesimato? The rules require it. At least 85% of the wine must come from the year shown, and the year must be on the label.

Is Prosecco Rosé sweet? It can't be very sweet. Only Brut Nature, Extra Brut, Brut and Extra Dry are allowed, so the sweetest version has 12 to 17 g/l of sugar.

Is there a Prosecco Superiore DOCG Rosé? No. Rosé is allowed only in the Prosecco DOC. Pink sparkling wine from the DOCG hills is sold under other names.

Is there a frizzante Prosecco Rosé? No. The rules allow the rosé only as spumante, fully sparkling.

Sources

Last checked: October 2026

The Prosecco Desk: the Proseccotists behind Bella Principessa Prosecco. We love this region and write about it plainly. No producer pays to be mentioned.

Location: London, UK

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