Il Papavero Prosecco
Own label of Laithwaites
- Grape
- Glera
- Denomination
- Prosecco DOC
- Region
- Veneto
- ABV
- 10.5%
- Drink
- Now to 2027
Laithwaites' own-label Prosecco DOC, made from Glera by Conegliano-born winemaker Scipione Giuliani. Dry and gently sparkling at 10.5%, it runs to pear, green apple, lemon and a light almond finish. At £9.99 it is built for aperitivo hour.
Prices read daily from 1 UK retailer. We earn a commission on some links; it never changes the order.
Where to buy Il Papavero Prosecco
One shop sells this wine in the UK, so there is no price to compare between shops. Each price is the one on its page today, read daily.
No current retailer offer matches that combination.
Stock status is read from each retailer’s page once a day and may lag. Case and magnum listings show a per-bottle or per-litre equivalent and sit outside the best-price figure.
Pear, lemon and a nip of almond: Giuliani's Glera in the glass
Fresh and gently fizzy, with almond and citrus under pear, apple and green apple. The note below puts that in one picture.
- Tasted by
- ItalianWines editorial
- Tasted on
- 17 July 2026
- Source
- Drinker consensus · confidence Medium
Pear and green apple lead, with lemon zest and a whiff of acacia behind. Scipione Giuliani buys Glera from growers he knows across the Prosecco DOC zone. The nose is textbook for tank-method wine from it: orchard fruit first, no yeasty depth.
Dry and light at 10.5% ABV. The mousse is gentle rather than aggressive, and lemony acidity carries white peach and apple through a soft, easy mid-palate.
Short and clean, closing on almond and biscuit, then a quick rinse of citrus that asks for a fried starter.
It sits exactly where the £9.99 price says it should: honest, party-ready Prosecco rather than a fine-wine impression, and well liked for what it is. Drink it young and cold, as the Prosecco consortium advises, and note the 31 May 2027 drink-by on the current release.
Buying Il Papavero Prosecco at £9.99
This is a Direct Wines exclusive, sold by Laithwaites and its sister club the Sunday Times Wine Club. Expect a single live listing rather than a supermarket price war. At £13.32 per litre it sits mid-band for UK Prosecco DOC.
Other vintages and formats: 1 price line
20cl · NV: £3.99, 1 UK retailer
How Il Papavero scores as an everyday Italian pour
The six Fit dimensions put numbers on what the £9.99 price hints at. It scores 92 for beginners and 90 for everyday drinking against 15 for the cellar: the exact shape of a drink-now aperitivo fizz.
A familiar dry Prosecco profile, gentle mousse, 10.5% ABV and a £9.99 price. About the easiest on-ramp to Italian sparkling wine there is.
Under a tenner, a low 10.5% ABV and no-ceremony fizz make it a weeknight default. Scored as the near-inverse of its cellar rating with no price penalty to apply.
Zero tannin, lemon-led acidity and a scrubbing mousse cover fried, briny, raw and creamy plates. Only big red meat and long braises sit outside its range.
£9.99 (£13.32 per litre) sits mid-band in the £8-12 UK shelf norm for Prosecco DOC, and it drinks at its price. Banded editorially because no category price aggregate exists yet.
Bubbles always mark a moment, but an entry-level own-label Prosecco DOC lacks the prestige signal of Franciacorta or a vintage traditional-method fizz. Birthday-toast tier rather than wedding tier.
Tank-method NV with a 31 May 2027 drink-by on the current release. The Prosecco DOC consortium itself advises drinking within the year after harvest, so there is nothing to gain from keeping it.
Scoring is rule-based and deterministic. The model and weightings are documented in our Wine Fit Score methodology.
Prosecco in five fields
A compact view of what the Prosecco denomination actually requires, and how this bottle sits inside it. Pulled from the official Italian disciplinare.
Il Papavero is non-vintage: drink it young
This Prosecco is blended without a vintage statement and tank-fermented for freshness. The Prosecco DOC consortium advises drinking within the year after harvest. The current Laithwaites release wears a 31 May 2027 drink-by date.
- Best price
- £8.99
- Retailers
- 2 in stock
- ABV
- 10.5%
- Window
- Drink now through 2027
Non-vintage by design: Glera parcels are blended and tank-fermented for freshness rather than held on lees, and the release now on sale carries a 31 May 2027 drink-by date. Buy for the year ahead, not the cellar.
- Best price
- not listed
- Retailers
- 0 in stock
Drink-now / hold guidance reflects general style cues for this wine, not a forecast for a specific bottle. Where vintage-level editorial notes exist, they appear above.
Perfect Pairings
Dishes that go with this wine
Fried, briny and raw: where a 10.5% Glera fizz earns its keep
Shellfish, aperitif snacks and cured meat are its natural company, and its structure explains why: lemony acidity, a gentle tank-method mousse and zero tannin. Each match below names the mechanism, from cutting frying oil to riding rice vinegar.
Fried aperitivo food: arancini to tempura
Frying coats the palate in fat, and this wine carries the two cleaners that matter: lemony Glera acidity and a tank-method mousse. At 10.5% ABV it rinses and refreshes without adding weight, so the second arancino tastes as good as the first.
Try with: Arancini · Gnocco fritto · Pizza Fritta · Prawn Tempura · More pairings →
Sushi and cured fish: citrus against rice vinegar
Sushi rice is seasoned with rice vinegar. The lemon-and-green-apple acidity in this Glera runs parallel to it, so neither side turns flat. The gentle fizz lifts delicate raw fish and smoked salmon instead of steamrolling them.
Try with: Nigiri Sushi · Tempura · Scottish Smoked Salmon · More pairings →
Briny shellfish and chip-shop salt
Salt amplifies fruit. Against oysters, potted shrimp or properly salted chips, the pear and white peach in this Glera read riper while its acidity keeps the brine honest. Shellfish is its best-known match, and the salt axis is why.
Try with: Oysters · Potted Shrimp · Fish and Chips · More pairings →
Pear to pear: creamy risotto and brunch plates
The wine's leading pear note bridges straight into pear and walnut in the risotto, while the almond on the finish shadows the nuts. The mousse then loosens creamy rice and eggs so nothing turns claggy.
Try with: Gorgonzola, pear, and walnut risotto · Pumpkin risotto · Frittata di maccheroni · More pairings →
Big red meat and long braises
A 10.5% Glera fizz has no tannin and a feather-light body. Bistecca, braised beef or a slow lamb curry flattens it to lemon water, while the meat's fat finds nothing to grip. Pour an Aglianico del Vulture or a Chianti Riserva there and keep this bottle on aperitivo duty.
Skip with: Fiorentina steak · Brasato al Barolo · Beef wellington · Rogan josh · Pairing guide →
Not a cellar wine: drink Il Papavero on release
There is no collector case here by design. Tank-method NV Prosecco carries no vintage, no long ageing on its yeast and a 31 May 2027 drink-by on the current release. Buy it by the case for parties, not for the cellar.
Best in the years above; holds without falling over either side.
Pour it straight from the bottle.
Tank-method NV with a 31 May 2027 drink-by on the current release. The Prosecco DOC consortium itself advises drinking within the year after harvest, so there is nothing to gain from keeping it.
£8.99 for a 75cl bottle, at Laithwaites, is the best price we track, and we have no signal of further discounting.
Sources behind this Il Papavero page
Read directly from each retailer’s public product page once a day. Last refresh: 25 Oct 2026, 02:25 BST. We do not hold stock and we do not accept payment for placement.
Confidence · HighThe name on the label belongs to Laithwaites, a shop, not to a winery. Laithwaites names Scipione Giuliani as the winemaker. Laithwaites is the only UK shop we track that sells it, so there is no price comparison to make. How we tell estate, shop and brand labels apart.
Confidence · HighDrawn from published drinker ratings, summarised in our own words. A crowd read across many tasters, not a single critic.
Confidence · MediumFrom the official Italian disciplinare for this denomination, cross-checked against the Ministry of Agriculture register.
Confidence · HighOur reading of the price, drawn from the disciplinare, public UK duty rates, and typical landed-cost benchmarks. Not a quote from the producer or a retailer.
Confidence · MediumStyle guidance for this kind of wine at this price point. Treat it as advice, not a forecast for the bottle in your hand.
Confidence · MediumGlera, Veneto and Prosecco DOC: the connected guides
Common Questions
Il Papavero is a Laithwaites own label, not an estate. The range is made by Scipione Giuliani, a winemaker born in the heart of the Prosecco region. He sources fruit from growers he has known for years across the DOC zone. No single cellar is named on the bottle, which carries a standard imbottigliato da (bottled by) statement rather than an estate-bottling claim. For the wider story of how these merchant-exclusive labels work, read "Who Really Makes Britain's Own-Label Italian Wine?"
Glera. Prosecco DOC rules require at least 85% Glera, with up to 15% of Verdiso, Bianchetta Trevigiana, Perera, Chardonnay or Pinot varieties permitted in the blend. This bottling is sold simply as Glera.
It is a dry white sparkler at 10.5% ABV with a fine, gentle mousse. Almond and citrus sit behind pear, apple and green apple, then lemon. Expect fresh orchard fruit rather than sweet fizz.
No. Tank-method Prosecco is built for freshness: the Prosecco DOC consortium advises drinking it within the year after harvest. The current Laithwaites release carries a 31 May 2027 drink-by date. Serve it chilled at 6-8C and drink it young.
It is exclusive to the Direct Wines family. Laithwaites sells the 75cl bottle at £9.99 (£13.32 per litre), and the same wine appears through its sister club, the Sunday Times Wine Club. Supermarkets do not stock it, so the single live listing tracked on this page is the price to watch.
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How retailer prices are sourced.
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