Prosecco and Asiago: the best pairings, balancing harmony and contrast.

The best pairings between two typical products from the historic Triveneto region: Prosecco and Asiago, are balanced between the two opposites of harmony, which unites sweet with sweet, and contrast , which instead aims for the balance between the acidity of the wine and the fattiness of the cheese . This is established by a study from the University of Paduapublished in the Italian Journal of Food Science, which used sensory analysis and consumer testing to rigorously analyze for the first time how these two products interact on a taste level. The results, therefore, open the possibility of using these methods not only to describe the products, but also to predict market preferences. "The study focused on three types of Prosecco—still, sparkling, and spumante—and three levels of aging of Asiago," says Giovanna Lomolino, the study's first author. "The resulting nine pairings were subsequently tested by a panel of experts and a sample of university students. The results," Lomolino comments, "were interesting and revealing." It emerged, in fact, that the most successful combinations were Prosecco spumante, which is the most effervescent and lively, paired with fresh Asiago or, conversely, with the more mature type. "In the first case," says Alberto De Iseppi, who coordinated the researchers, "the acidity of the wine enhances the sweetness of the cheese, while in the second, the effervescence enhances the aromatic complexity and texture of the more mature Asiago. But beyond taste," De Iseppi continues, "our study highlights how science can also play a central role in recovering and reviving traditions, making them more understandable, appreciable, and accessible to an increasingly curious and attentive public."