DOC Sparkling Shop's own label

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.

Best price
£8.99

75cl · checked 25 Oct · Delivery £7.99, free on 12+ bottles

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

£8.99 best price · 1 retailer in stock · checked 25 Oct 2026

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.

Laithwaites Best price Not stated · 20cl · checked 25 Oct · Delivery £7.99, free on 12+ bottles
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£3.99 £19.95/L
Laithwaites Best price Save 20% Not stated · 75cl · checked 25 Oct · Delivery £7.99, free on 12+ bottles
Read from the retailer's page once a day. Confidence is low, so treat it as a guide and confirm at the retailer.
£8.99 was regular price £11.29 £11.99/L

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.

Tasting Notes

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
Nose

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.

LemonLemon
AcaciaAcacia
Green AppleGreen Apple
PearPear
White peachWhite peach
AlmondAlmond
Palate

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.

Finish

Short and clean, closing on almond and biscuit, then a quick rinse of citrus that asks for a fried starter.

Overall

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.

Drink now Best by 2027
Live UK pricing

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.

Best price · 75 cl · NV £8.99 at Laithwaites
75cl · NV available from Laithwaites £8.99, in stock
Against other Prosecco Cheaper than 10 in 10 Of the 178 Prosecco bottles we track; the middle price is £12.99
Vintages live NV Current release: NV
Per-litre (75cl · NV basis) £11.99 Lowest current 75cl · NV offer
Last checked 25 Oct 2026 Refreshed once every 24 hours
Other vintages and formats: 1 price line

20cl · NV: £3.99, 1 UK retailer

Wine fit score

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.

Best intro to this style 9.2/10

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.

Best everyday bottle 9.0/10

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.

Best with food 8.4/10

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.

Best value 7.2/10

£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.

Best for an occasion 4.0/10

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.

Best for cellar 1.5/10

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.

Denomination Compliance Snapshot

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.

Allowed grapes
5 varieties listed
This bottle: Glera.
Minimum ageing
No statutory minimum
Producers release on their own schedule; 4 to 6 months in steel is typical.
Region / area
Nine provinces of Veneto and Friuli: Belluno, Gorizia, Padova, Pordenone, Treviso, Trieste, Udine, Venezia, Vicenza
Source: Disciplinare.
Style
DOC · Prosecco
Minimum ABV at this colour: 11.0%.
Classification
DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata)
Vintages

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.

NV Non-vintage
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.

NV Non-vintage
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.

The disciplinare, the place, the label

Prosecco DOC: the rulebook behind Il Papavero

Prosecco DOC requires at least 85% Glera; Verdiso, Bianchetta Trevigiana, Perera, Chardonnay and Pinots may fill the rest. It caps yields at 18 tonnes per hectare and spans nine provinces across Veneto and Friuli. At 667 million bottles in 2025 it is the world's best-selling Italian sparkling wine.

01

DOC, DOCG, IGT: what the badges mean

Italian wine law sorts bottles into a pyramid. DOCG sits at the top: tightly drawn boundaries, prescribed grapes, mandatory ageing, government tasting before release. DOC is the same idea with looser thresholds. IGT (Indicazione Geografica Tipica) is broader still, requiring only that 85% of the grapes come from the named territory.

Prosecco is in the DOC tier. That is not a quality verdict, it is a description of how much freedom the producer has at vinification and ageing.

02

The denomination rules, in detail

  • Allowed grapes. 5 varieties listed in the disciplinare
  • Yield ceiling. 18.0 tonnes per hectare
  • Minimum ABV. 11.0% vol
  • Minimum ageing. No statutory minimum - producers release on their own schedule
  • Tasting panel. No mandatory pre-release tasting
03

Region and area context

Prosecco falls within Veneto, covering Nine provinces of Veneto and Friuli: Belluno, Gorizia, Padova, Pordenone, Treviso, Trieste, Udine, Venezia, Vicenza. The denomination is further divided into 2 sub-zones.

Prosecco DOC zone Wine route in the zone

Wine route in the zone: Strada del Prosecco.

04

Reading the label

  • GleraGrape varieties
  • Prosecco DOCGeographic indication and quality tier
  • 10.5% vol · 75 clAlcohol by volume and bottle size
05

What sits behind the price of Il Papavero Prosecco

Tracked from
£8.99
Direction
Mostly cost down
Drivers
2 up / 3 down
Main factor
Partner-grower sourcing across a 667-million-bottle DOC
  1. 01

    Partner-grower sourcing across a 667-million-bottle DOC

    Cost down

    Il Papavero owns no vineyards. Scipione Giuliani buys Glera from growers he knows across a denomination that bottled 667 million bottles in 2025. Laithwaites pays for fruit and winemaking, never estate overhead.

  2. 02

    Martinotti tank fermentation, weeks not years

    Cost down

    The second fermentation happens in pressurised tanks, the Prosecco DOC norm, not bottle by bottle. Skipping the bottle-by-bottle handling and years on the yeast is the single biggest saving versus traditional-method fizz.

  3. 03

    Own-label economics: the brand belongs to the merchant

    Cost down

    There is no famous-name premium. Il Papavero is Laithwaites' own asset, sold direct with a money-back guarantee, so the marketing spend that inflates big-name sparkling stays out of this £9.99.

  4. 04

    UK duty and VAT: about £4.08 of the £9.99

    Cost up

    At 10.5% ABV this 75cl bottle pays £2.41 alcohol duty plus £1.67 VAT, so about 41% of the shelf price is tax. HMRC charges £30.62 per litre of pure alcohol on wine between 8.5% and 22% from 1 February 2026, sparkling paying the same as still.

  5. 05

    Prosecco DOC compliance and consorzio protection

    Cost up

    The DOC caps yields at 18 tonnes per hectare, holds blends to at least 85% Glera and now stamps bottles with a state mark and QR code. Certification plus the consortium's global brand-policing is built into every bottle.

01

Partner-grower sourcing across a 667-million-bottle DOC

Cost down

Il Papavero owns no vineyards. Scipione Giuliani buys Glera from growers he knows across a denomination that bottled 667 million bottles in 2025. Laithwaites pays for fruit and winemaking, never estate overhead.

Perfect Pairings

Dishes that go with this wine

Food Pairing

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.

Fat cutting Strong match

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 →

Acidity matching Strong match

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 →

Salt balance Good match

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 →

Aromatic bridge Good match

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 →

Avoid Clash

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 →

Drinking + cellar

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.

Drinking window
2026 → 2027

Best in the years above; holds without falling over either side.

Decanting
Not needed

Pour it straight from the bottle.

Cellar potential
Low

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.

Buy now or wait?
Buy now

£8.99 for a 75cl bottle, at Laithwaites, is the best price we track, and we have no signal of further discounting.

Sources & trust

Sources behind this Il Papavero page

Prices & stock

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 · High
Who owns this label

The 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 · High
Tasting notes

Drawn from published drinker ratings, summarised in our own words. A crowd read across many tasters, not a single critic.

Confidence · Medium
Appellation rules & ageing

From the official Italian disciplinare for this denomination, cross-checked against the Ministry of Agriculture register.

Confidence · High
Why it costs what it costs

Our 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 · Medium
Drink window & cellar potential

Style guidance for this kind of wine at this price point. Treat it as advice, not a forecast for the bottle in your hand.

Confidence · Medium
Related

Glera, 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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Il Papavero Prosecco