The Origins of Franciacorta in the Italian Renaissance
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The origins of Franciacorta in the Italian Renaissance GABRIELE ARCHETTI Introduction by Kerin O’Keefe INTRODUCTION Silvano Brescianini President of Consorzio Franciacorta “The cultivation of the vine represents a characteristic feature of the production of the Lombard territory called Franciacorta, where a viticultural crop specialized in hilly area is documented since the early Middle Ages. In particular the monastic and episcopal documentation allow us to identify also the grape varieties, white and red, which have been produced and sold since the very end of the XII century “. So writes Prof. Gabriele Archetti in “Vite e vino nel medioevo-Note storiche sul territorio bresciano”(Arti Edition of 2017), a document of great importance on the history of wine in Franciacorta. The decision to involve Prof. Archetti in the realization of a synthesis - which you will find here with the precious introduction by our dear Friend Andrea Grignaffini - was born precisely from that book, and from the desire to mention and share the deep enological roots of our land, Franciacorta. I thank Professor Archetti and Andrea Grignaffini because they enthusiastically welcomed this project following it with great professionalism and I thank the reader who will dedicate himself to the reading of this journey to discover Franciacorta in the Renaissance. Nature“ has given“ nothing more useful than wine to man Girolamo Conforti “Libellus de vino mordaci” Brescia 1570 4 5 its successful efforts to distinguish itself from among the world’s traditionally-crafted, sparkling wines. I’ve been trying Franciacorta since I moved to Italy years ago, and the changes that I’ve witnessed, especially in just the last decade alone, have been remarkable. Today there’s much more focus on choosing the best vineyard sites as well as a denomination-wide commitment to organic viticulture and organic wines. There’s also the FRANCIACORTA: extremely positive and growing trend of using less ROOTS AND REBIRTH dosage or even skipping it altogether. These combined Kerin O’Keefe factors have resulted in today’s focused, elegantly structured Franciacortas that express their distinctive If there’s a still secret jewel waiting growing zone. to be discovered by the international wine world, it’s Franciacorta from Lombardy. A world-class, bottle- But far from being just a Modern Day success story, fermented sparkler (called Metodo the denomination is a descendent of a centuries- Classico in Italian), it boasts pedigree old tradition of viticulture geared toward quality and style. While well known in wine production. Italy, only a little more than 11% of Franciacorta’s annual production of 17.6 million bottles is currently Roots exported around the world. However, Franciacorta as we know it today is a relatively this number is destined to increase recent phenomenon, created between 1955 and as the denomination continues the early 1960s, when a young enologist named 6 7 Franco Ziliani boldly suggested the idea of of Franciacorta in the Italian Renaissance. making a Metodo Classico to aristocratic land Thanks to this book, we get a better understanding owner and wine producer Guido Berlucchi. of the unique growing area and how centuries Berlucchi accepted the challenge, and the two of winemaking paved the way for contemporary teamed up to make a traditional method sparkling Franciacorta. wine in what was then an area producing exclusively still table wines. After some trial and error, their first vintage was 1961. The following year, Prof. Archetti cites documents from the Middle the dynamic duo made what is credited as Italy’s Ages that demonstrate the importance of wine first Metodo Classico Rosé. Their success caught production on local farming and on the Franciacorta the attention of other local growers and producers economy. Among the most significant are as well as outside investors, and eventually led to monastic documents from the influential women’s the creation of Franciacorta DOC (Denominazione abbey of Santa Giulia in Brescia hailing from di Origine Controllata) in 1967. This was followed the 8th and 9th centuries that identify the best by DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata vineyard sites of the Benedictine Monastery. e Garantita) recognition in 1995, when Franciacorta Situated between Lake Iseo and Brescia, these became regulated under the strictest quality vineyards were directly controlled by the nuns. controls in Italy. Modern Day zoning studies, including soil analysis, have confirmed that the best sites today are those that were already identified by the monastic Despite being created in the 1960s, Franciacorta’s community hundreds of years ago. vinous roots, including a focus on making quality wine, are actually ancient, as Professor Gabriele Archetti, Professor of Medieval History By the 11th century, records show that grape- at Milan’s Sacred Heart Catholic University, vine cultivation was increasing significantly and points out in this new publication, The Origin expanding up to the hilly areas with better exposition. 8 9 The same records also indicate a focus on higher quality, specialized viticulture; an idea that was light-years ahead of its time when compared to the traditional coltura promiscua, or mixed cultivation of crops and viticulture that lasted well into the first half of the 20th century throughout Italy. Besides descriptions of preparing terrain for specialized vineyards, these archives further reveal, unsurprisingly, that grapes planted in the Middle Ages were pre-phylloxera varieties that were completely different from what is planted now in Franciacorta. Prof. Archetti makes the case that there is some historical basis to affirm a tradition of producing effervescent, or to be more precise, ‘lively’ wines in the area as far back as the Middle Ages. Perhaps the best description of these wines is that they weren’t entirely still. And while they pre-dated bottle fermentation, these invigorating offerings were none-the-less the product of a specific wine making technique. 10 11 One historical publication that leads to this hypothesis is Libellus de vino mordaci that was published in 1570 by Girolamo Conforti, a physician from Brescia. As Archetti points out, Conforti wrote his treatise from a medical standpoint, not from an enological perspective. Conforti opened his essay by highly praising wine and underlying its importance in daily life by stating, “Nature has given man nothing more useful than wine.” However, the doctor also referred to the ‘biting’ young wines that while greatly appreciated by the people, were deemed ‘dangerous’ on the subject. One of the most important figures to one’s health by the medical standards of the day. in Renaissance agronomy and on viticulture, Gallo described in great detail a technique for making cisiolo, a local white wine made from black-skinned While the Libellus seems on one hand, albeit with grapes that remained “fizzy” and “sweet” for months. a flexible interpretation, to be an affirmative answer According to Gallo, cisiolo was “appreciated on the to the question over whether there was a history tables of the Lombard aristocracy.” of making fizzy wines in Franciacorta centuries ago, the Professor surmises that the mordace wine described in Libellus was however “significantly The practice entailed immediately separating the different” when compared to today’s Franciacorta and must from the just-pressed grapes and letting to “any wine with bubbles”. them ‘boil’ or ferment for a brief period before being put into small barrels. The barrels were reinforced with iron bands and water-proofed Key works written by scholar Agostino Gallo with animal fat on the outside. To block the who had holdings around Brescia shed more light fermentation, the barrels were then submerged in 12 13 14 15 water or left at the bottom of a well before being These days, Franciacorta is often compared to brought to the cellars to rest. The result was a foaming, Champagne because the two wines use the same rather sweet wine that by all accounts was very much bottle-fermentation method and primary grape enjoyed. According to Gallo, this practice wasn’t new varieties. But the comparisons end there and today among Brescian farmers and this statement is backed the best Franciacortas have their own identity. up by archives dating from the 13th and The combination of avant-garde winemakers, their 14th centuries. wide-scale commitment to organic viticulture, an increased focus on reducing (and even eliminating) dosage and promising experiments with a recently It’s important to note that even though these revived native grape are yielding stunning, terroir- ‘biting wines’ weren’t the bubbles we know today, driven sparklers. these reports represent what Archetti defines as “the first scientific codification of a non-still wine (even if not in a bottle)”. And that already in the Unique growing area Middle Ages, thanks to innovations in fermentation This relatively small area has historically been techniques, “a ‘fizzy’ wine was being created” in the called Franciacorta, a derivation of Curtes Francae, hills Franciacorta. referring to the zone’s 13th century tax-free trade status. Designating a stretch of land between Brescia and Lake Iseo, the name Franciacorta Even more importantly, Archetti’s research and first appeared in documents from 1266 and 1277 text disclose that there is a long, solid tradition of and today the denomination encompasses 19 inventive winemaking in Franciacorta, and that townships in Lombardy’s Brescia province. Retreating above all this small geographical area has long been glaciers created Franciacorta’s amphitheater- known for the quality of its wines. shaped growing zone and left behind mineral-rich soils of morainic origin. Bordering with Lake Iseo in the north, the rolling hills benefit from a 16 17 warm, almost Mediterranean microclimate tempered by cooling breezes that descend from foothills Monte Isola of the Rhaetian Alps further to the northeast. Sulzano A Besides its vicinity to the lake, Franciacorta’s Pilzone micro-climate is a result of winds originating LAGO D’ISEO Sarnico from the nearby mountains.