The DOCG zone of Prosecco Superiore is on a hilly strip of land beside the Piave river, between the small towns of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene and equidistant between the Dolomites and the Adriatic. Valdobbiadene is the heart of production with a concentration of hill slopes up to 500 metres, with the best wines coming from the slopes of the hill of Cartizze, where the wines were traditionally sweet.
Primo Franco, whose family started a Prosecco house in 1919, began his own winery in 1973 and has become a trailblazer for the very best of traditional Prosecco di Valdobbiadene, though made using the most up-to-date technology.
These traditional Proseccos exhibit 27 to 30g/l residual sugar, but because they are based on top quality base wine from great terroir they show great balance and are capable of lasting up to 30 years, as a vertical tasting in October 2014 of all the wines Primo has made since 1983 showed. They use no sulphites now, nor do they rack the wine after fermentation preferring to leave the wine on its lees, which act as an antioxidant and add texture and complexity.