The Vision Behind CALSECCO®
Co-authored by Manveer Sandhu, Executive Director of Winemaking and Kim Kulchycki, Sr. Director Marketing, Rack & Riddleecutive Director of Winemaking and Kim Kulchycki, Sr. Director Marketing, Rack & Riddle
Why California Needs Something Fresh & New
Sparkling wine is increasing in popularity, filling more need states for consumers than almost any other type of wine. Once regarded as the primary celebratory beverage for holidays and special occasions, its market position has shifted dramatically in the last 10 years. Sparkling wine has now evolved into an everyday beverage enjoyed throughout the year.
The popularity of Prosecco has made sparkling wine accessible and popular with a new and younger group of wine drinkers — the elusive Gen Z and Millennials. The ones who grew up drinking sparkling water, seltzers and other refreshing beverages from other categories but haven’t quite “gotten” wine. Well, they understand Prosecco!
Given California’s popularity and appeal are undeniable and pervasive — the wines, culture, food and lifestyle — it stands to reason consumers would love a premium sparkling wine made in this style from California.
For decades, California has made traditional method sparkling wine that stands proudly beside the world’s finest. California has offered exceptional value in Charmat based sparkling wines.
Even so, there was still a prominent gap on the shelf. The premium Charmat sparkling wine space was left unfilled by California, ceding to the approachable style owned by Italy with Prosecco.
When the Rack & Riddle winemaking team began thinking about creating CALSECCO, we were not interested in simply replicating an Italian wine in California. The more interesting opportunity was to understand what made that style so successful, then ask what California could bring to the conversation. We have the terroir, the grower partners, and winemaking talent. The opportunity was to put those pieces together in a way that felt distinctly Californian.
We wanted something bright, fresh, fruit-forward and approachable, but we also wanted the quality and discipline behind it to be unmistakable. The process took us from the Prosecco houses of Italy back to the vineyards of California, through dozens of blending trials and into a very different way of thinking about what the promise of CALSECCO could be.
At heart, CALSECCO is a love letter to the California wine industry, a promise made and kept to the sparkling wine category and a belief that when we
build something new together, growers, producers, retailers and sparkling wine lovers will all share in the growth. A rising tide lifts all boats.
Inspiration for Making CALSECCO: Visiting Prosecco Houses in Italy, 2022
A 2022 visit to Prosecco producers gave our winemaking team an important reminder that there is no single Prosecco profile. There are meaningful differences in style, scale and expression.
Tasting the wines in their intended setting revealed their true character: their stylistic diversity, natural approachability, versatility at the table, and the fact that Prosecco is enjoyed far beyond celebrations and special occasions.
There were other important winemaking lessons learned in Italy. Prosecco is made at remarkable scale, with large-capacity presses designed to handle significant volume during a compressed harvest window. And its supply often rests on a European model of small growers and co-ops feeding programs both large and small, much like Champagne. Those observations about grape sourcing and gentle processing, and how an entire region organizes itself around a style, would shape every decision that followed once the team came home. Our own approach to coordinated sourcing, shared standards and long-term grower partnerships in California seemed well-suited to this model.
Manveer Sandhu, our Head Winemaker, came back convinced that the classic varietals used in traditional method sparkling programs were not automatically the right toolkit for CALSECCO.