Though Prosecco is enjoying a surge of popularity in the U.S., Franciacorta is the more serious (and pricey) version of Italian sparkling wine. A Franciacorta is produced in the style of Champagne - the secondary fermentation occurs in the same bottle you're holding, not in a large steel vat like Prosecco is. And you'll notice this is a more serious wine - less apple-driven aromas and more brioche-like richness. Produced from a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Nero (aka Pinot Noir) and Pinot Bianco (aka Pinot Blanc), this is a delicious wine from Italy's Lombardy region.
Bellavista produces Italy's finest sparkling wines from 470 acres of vineyard in the western part of the Franciacorta region. The vines grow in a glacial soil full of stones, a soil type that provides the ideal environment for grapes destined for a sparkling wine like this.
The property was founded in the 1970s when Vittorio Moretti (current president of the Franciacorta cosortium) bought the hill called 'Bellavista', because of its stunning view. His grandfather had farmed in Franciacorta and after Vittorio made his fortune outside the region, he returned home to buy this superb site. His first vintage in 1979 was made with the idea of having his own wine to drink with friends. In 1981, however, he met Mattia Vezzola, a young winemaker who expanded Vittorio's vision and over time their partnership has transformed Bellavista into Italy's leading producer of quality sparkling wine.
Their quest for quality begins in the vineyard, where intervention is minimal and sustainable (lotta integrata). After harvest, the base wine is fermented using 103 individual parcels. Decisions regarding malolactic fermentation are made depending on the vintage. Forty percent of their wines are vinified in barrique, the rest in stainless steel. In the May following harvest, they taste all the base wines to compile the blend to be used in that year's bottling. All of their wines - the halves, magnums and large bottles alike - undergo the second fermentation in bottle.
They employ a team of 5 riddlers, as all the remuage is done by hand - they tried the robotic giro pallets but prefer the results of hand riddling. If you're holding one of these bottles as you read this, lift it up and look at the bottom of the bottle - notice the white line painted on the inside of the punt? That's painted onto each bottle so the Riddler knows the position of the wine - without a label, it's impossible to keep track of which bottle has been turned (riddled), and every day the Riddler turns every single bottle one quarter of a turn, tipping the bottle increasingly towards the full upside-down position. This is a standard procedure in the Methode Champenoise (traditionelle), originally invented by the Widow Clicquot in order to move the dead yeast cells off the sides of the bottle and into the neck, where they can be expelled during a process called disgorging. The result is a clear, clean and brilliant sparkling wine with no un-drinkable sediment in your glass!
The wines are aged on lees for a minimum of 3 years, but they're slowly increasing this to 4 years. The reserve wine, used to assure uniform fill levels after disgorging, is an average of 6 years old. And the dosage, which varies from year to year, is about 8 grams per litre for the Cuvée, 7 grams for the Gran Cuvée and 3 grams for the other wines.
Finally, having gone to all this effort, Moretti wanted to ensure the bottle looked good, so he had his own design produced by the Murano glass factory in Venice. A beautiful package for a memorable wine!
