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(All prices Ontario.)
Durante Le Spinee Prosecco Score: 90 Price $14.95 Rich and unusually toasty, with notes of notes of Dempster's bread-factory air, creamy lemon and apple. Top-notch. Packaged elegantly, with a regular cork.
Astoria Prosecco La Robinia Extra Dry Score: 88 Price: $12.95 A widely available brand that overdelivers. Dry but not bone-dry, with a lemon-pie core and nicely rounded profile.
Bottega Vino dei Poeti Prosecco Score: 88 Price: $12.80 Fresh, vibrant and pleasantly bone-dry, hinting at green apple and minerals, with mouth-watering acidity. Good value.
Eugenio Collavini Prosecco Score: 88 Price: $13.95 ($1 off the regular price until Dec. 5) Gently creamy, with apple in the foreground and a stone-like backdrop.
Santa Margherita Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Score: 86 Price: $17.95 From the makers of a popular, and pricey, pinot grigio. Vigorous froth, with lean citrus and stone flavours.
Val d'Oca Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore Score: 84 Price: $14.20 Another popular brand, lean in flavour, with faint mineral and bread-like notes.
Mionetto Il Prosecco Score: 83 Price: $12.60 Innovative bowling-pin-shaped bottle sealed with a beer cap. The effervescence and pear and apple-skin flavour are too parsimonious for my money.
Giovello Prosecco Score: 81 Price: $14.95 Red apple, subtly metallic flavour and short finish. One virtue: each bottle carries a freshness date, so you'll know if it has been sitting around on shelves for too long (namely, more than year).