Sparkling wines are the flagship of Bra-
zilian vitiviniculture. The Country seems
destined to produce white grapes for mak-
ing this beverage, in particular in the Sierra
Gaucha region, due to the region’s terroir
– set of factors like soil, climate, geograph-
ical location, management and produc-
tive cultivation. This category of fine wine
is made, in most cases, from a mixture of
crops, and is reserved for the millésimes
and for the highest ranks of the designa-
tion of the crop. The producers, for the
most part, use white grapes (Chardonnay
and Riesling, Prosseco and Moscato – the
latter for sparkling wines of the muscatel
type) and red grapes (Pinot Noir).
Over the past crops, there has been a
generalized increase in all the sparkling
categories. In parallel, demand from con-
sumers has also made strides. From 2010
to 2015, the consumption of sparkling
wines jumped from 16.8 million liters to
22.8 million liters, up 35.5%. Now, con-
sidering only fine wines, sparklings rep-
resent 19% of what is traded in the Coun-
try. This percentage is celebrated by the
sector, seeing that per capita consump-
Much
frisson
Inor Ag. Assmann
36
