Ingredient #1:
The raw material, or pre-fermented Prosecco. You can get it from the region's winemakers.
Our favorite winery, which is very friendly and comes highly recommended, is Cantina del Veneto Orientale in beautiful Portogruaro. You can place your order in advance by email or phone:
portogruaro(at)vivocantine.it or +39 0421 275374 (knowledge of Italian is a plus). Please say hello to Fabrizio for us!
Ingredient #2: the damigiana
Ingredient #2:
Then we'll need a damigiana. That's the Italian name for a fermentation demijohn. You can find them for around €10, for example on Amazon, including a fermentation tube. But you can just as easily find them at any Brico (Italian home improvement store).
Or you can rent one (including a deposit) directly from the cantina - in our experience, that's the best option. But these things are heavy, since they have a capacity of 54 liters.
Take the damigiana to the cantina and fill it up, or pick up the already-filled damigiana. Then you should head home as soon as possible, because the raw prosecco is highly fermentable and needs to be bottled.
Rubber mallet for corking
Ingredient #3:
(Crown) caps and a corking machine, if you're a perfectionist. Italian pragmatism teaches us that a plastic stopper and a rubber mallet work just as well.
Important: Determine your bottle requirements in advance (you can also get bottles at Brico).
Ingredient #4: A little patience.
Once all the bottles have been filled and corked, you'll need to be patient. If stored in a cool, dark place, it will take about 3 months for the must to ferment.
If you hear a pop, pop coming from your cellar, then you know: Something has gone wrong. Either it was too warm or the bottles weren't corked properly.
So be sure to store the bottles in the cellar, because it doesn't matter if one bursts there.
Recommended Sources
Of course, you can buy the must wherever you like, but the Cantina del Veneto Orientale is quite conveniently located (and there's a Brico home improvement store nearby as well).
The ideal time to order the raw Prosecco is in the fall, so you can pick it up at the end of March.
By the way - but this is just between us! - quite a few winemakers from Conegliano do this too, because the wine-growing region is simply too small to meet global demand.
This brings the cost of bottling it yourself (excluding deposit or bottle price) to about €1–1.50 per bottle of homemade Prosecco.
We think that's an extremely respectable result! And it's a lot of fun, too.