THE POINTY END
Drive the Prosecco Road in the King Valley
WORDS PAUL CHAI
T
his is not my first trip to northern Victoria’s King Valley, but it’s the first time I’ve had the Dal Zotto family’s prosecco vines as my back fence. I’m staying in the Wine Down Pop-up Hotel, an upcycled shipping container from Contained (contained.com.au) and Visit Victoria, and my makeshift back verandah is framed by the prized grapes. Italian families have tilled the soil in this region for generations, first growing tobacco.
Then, when that crop fell from favour, they switched to growing Italian wine varieties and created the now-famous Prosecco Road. This stretch of bucolic bitumen joins the wineries of the King Valley – names like the Dal Zottos and the Pizzinis, who used their skill with the local soil to grow an entire industry around previously unloved Italian wine varieties. I’ve been travelling to the King Valley for over a decade and it manages a rare regional trick: ê
ti g e ra ir.co m . a u
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