INSIDER'S PICK: NV ADRIANA ADAMI PROSECCO SUPERIORE DOCG BRUT VALDOBBIADENE 'BOSCO DI GICA $18.99

For those of you that do not confine your Valentine's Day romance to just one night, or your lives make midweek date night impossible, you still need a bottle of quality bubbles. Prosecco has overcome a lot of misconceptions over the last decades, in many ways of its own doing by over-marketing the 'brand' image and mass appeal at the expense of quality. Recent laws have made it easier for smaller quality conscious producers like Adami to distance themselves from the masses, helping them improve their standing as one of the world's great sparkling wine regions and increasingly exceptional source of values. Unlike Champagne (and Cava to a certain extent), Prosecco is almost always at its best when fresh, as the climate and grapes generally do not create much natural acidity. By bottling smaller batches several times a year, the juice is kept protected in tanks from oxygen until absolutely necessary, and each order shipped across the world is at its absolutely freshest. Consumers are getting the best quality Prosecco now that they ever could, and there are more producers out there doing it right.

Super lively from the first pour with a big bloom of carbonation and lingering lace of bubbles on the surface, the aroma are full of white flowers and citrus skins, an almost perfect capturing of Spring in a glass (or at least the Spring-like weather today). The carbonation is softer on the palate than a Champagne, which often makes the wines taste fruitier and 'sweeter' than they really are, but the full texture really allows the apple and fruit to penetrate all across your mouth, and the fine skin tannins bring a pleasant delicate dryness to the finish. Serving this with a deeper chill also adds to the overall dryness, but can knock down some of the beautiful aromas, so you may want to play around with it to find the 'sweet spot' for you. While the multiple disgorgements each year can make it difficult to give the wine a consistent 'score', multiple recent releases over the last few years have gotten in the 89-91 range from both Vinous and Wine Advocate, if that makes anyone feel better.

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