Why it matters
The producer
Vinicola Serena, now trading as Serena Wines 1881, is a large-scale Prosecco producer near Conegliano in the Veneto. Pietro Serena did not begin as an estate bottler. In 1881, he started selling wine from the Prosecco hills north into the Cadore, the mountain territory above Treviso, loaded into wooden barrels and carried to communities without easy access to the vineyards. That commercial logic shaped the house from the start: wine made to travel, made to reach people.
Five generations carried the business forward. Today, fourth-generation Giorgio Serena and his son Luca hold the named leadership roles. In 2020, Casa Vinicola Botter acquired the company, folding it into a combined group that now operates more than a dozen wineries and roughly 1,500 hectares of vineyards across Italy. The Serena family name and its generational continuity remain on the label; the operating context is now that of a major Italian wine group.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Conegliano sits at the southern edge of the hills that run between Conegliano and Valdobbiadene, two towns in the Treviso province of Veneto. This corridor of steep, terraced slopes, planted almost entirely to Glera, produces Prosecco under the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Superiore DOCG, the more geographically restricted and hillside-specific designation. Below the hills, the broader Prosecco DOC extends across the flatlands of Veneto and into Friuli, covering a much larger area with less topographic variation.
In 2019, the Conegliano Valdobbiadene landscape was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a recognition of the terraced hillside vineyards and the centuries-old farming culture that shaped them. For Vinicola Serena, whose vineyards fall within this zone, the designation appears on labels and promotional materials as a provenance marker.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Prosecco is produced via the Charmat method, also called the Martinotti method in Italy. After primary fermentation, the wine undergoes secondary fermentation in large pressurised stainless steel tanks rather than in individual bottles. This approach preserves the fresh fruit character of Glera, producing a wine with delicate mousse, low tannin, and aromatic clarity. It is faster and less labour-intensive than the traditional method used in Champagne, which is why Prosecco can be made at volume without losing its primary fruit profile.
Glera is harvested at a point when acidity is still high and sugars are moderate. The grape's natural aromatic compounds, including those that give Prosecco its characteristic pear and floral notes, are sensitive to heat and oxidation, which is why cold tank fermentation is the standard approach for preserving them.
Wines to know
The range in view
The house produces Prosecco at two appellation levels. The Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG covers hillside production from the corridor between the two towns; the Prosecco DOC is a broader designation covering flatter ground across Veneto and Friuli. Both levels appear in the Serena portfolio.
The two primary brands are Serenello and Terra Serena. Terra Serena Prosecco Extra Dry is the best-documented bottle: it carries a small amount of residual sweetness and a fruity aromatic profile built around pear, honeydew melon, gooseberry and citrus. In Prosecco labelling, Extra Dry is not the driest style: it sits between Brut (drier) and Dry (sweeter), with dosage levels between 12 and 17 grams per litre of residual sugar. The sweetness is noticeable but not heavy, and the fruit character is light and direct.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with Terra Serena Prosecco Extra Dry. It is a Glera-based sparkling wine from the Prosecco DOC, made by Charmat method, with a small amount of residual sweetness and aromatic notes of pear, honeydew melon, gooseberry and citrus. The mousse is light and the body is lean. It is made to be drunk soon after release, cold, without food or with light starters, and it delivers exactly what it promises: a fresh, fruit-forward glass with no complications. It is the right first bottle because it is the only bottle in the range with confirmed tasting character.