The reason that you are presented the cork when tasting wine at a restaurant is to verify that the wine is in fact what it claims to be. This process is designed to prevent fraud. It’s always worth checking the bottle to make sure that it’s what it says it is. While Exit 9 Wine and Liquor advertises Cassara Extra Dry Prosecco as Italian, it in fact isn’t. If you look very carefully at the barcode, you’ll notice it, in fact, says, Product of Moldova. You’ll also notice that says “Bulgari Winery” S.R.L. Tvarditsa, MD. So does this not quite Italian Prosecco make good wine?

What really disturbed me about this wine was the fact it’s been relabeled.  The labeling is clearly applied twice.  A quick search shows that almost every site out there lists this wine as Italian.  So what exactly is in this bottle, and why is it claiming to be something it’s not?

Sight:  Super bubbly and a light straw color

Smell: Green apples to the hilt with a hint of floral notes and minerality.  A gooseberry note comes out as well.

Sip: The palate is light and lively, and tastes like a mix of super concentrated green apple and minerality.  As it builds, there’s a lean into lemon and the green apples become more pressed like cider.

Savor:  The ending is perhaps the nicest part, where it gives way on the minerals and dust and moves over toward a gooseberry, peach, green apple mix.

Cassara Extra Dry Prosecco is a down and dirty sort of wine, with a nice ending.  I can’t say I can recommend this wine, but if you’ve got nothing else, it does indeed have bubbles.   Green apple lovers and fans of big minerality will find something to love in Cassara Extra Dry Prosecco.

That said,  even if this wine is decent, I would not consume this wine again given its issues with labeling.

Verdict: Green Apple, Minerality, Lemon
Rating: 75*
Price: $9
Moldova

* – Product may have been adulterated, tampered, or not be as advertised.