What's the Big Deal About Franciacorta? | Wine News & Features Pagina 1 Di 4

What's the Big Deal About Franciacorta? | Wine News & Features Pagina 1 di 4

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What's the Big Deal About Franciacorta?

© Consorzio Franciacorta|The picturesque Franciacorta vineyards produce wines to rival Champagne. Bubbling under the surface of Prosecco's massive popularity is an Italian fizz that leaves it for dust. By James Lawrence | Posted Friday, 04-Dec-2015

With all the attention lavished on Prosecco, it's easy to forget that more than 100 Italian appellations are legally entitled to produce sparkling wine. And the best of those is....

Franciacorta – just another version of Prosecco, right?

Wrong. Franciacorta has about as much in common with Prosecco as this writer does with Donald Trump. It's a top-notch, traditional-method (secondary fermentation in bottle) sparkling wine produced in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy. It has risen from complete obscurity to one of the world's best Champagne imitations, based on a winning blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Blanc.

OK, but they're both Italian sparkling wines – what's the Related stories: difference? The Franciacorta President Who Franciacorta tastes nothing like Prosecco – particularly DOC Prosecco – Wanted to Be Pope and boasts a far broader range of styles, offering more complexity, finesse Making Friends With and depth. Prosecco in contrast, is produced from the Glera grape variety Franciacorta using the charmat method, where the secondary fermentation takes place Battonage at the Bottom of in tank. It's quaffable, but that's about it. Lake Iseo Basically, Franciacorta is a sexy, sleek Ferrari, whereas DOC Prosecco is a Honda Civic. You know what you're getting with the latter, but it's about as exciting as a party political broadcast.

But why haven't I heard of it before?

Unlike Champagne, Franciacorta doesn't boast a strong historical legacy of producing quality sparkling wine. Still wines have been produced in the region since Roman times, however it is only since the 1970s that a small but successful fizz industry really began to emerge. Moreover, Franciacorta was only awarded official DOCG status in 1995. It's a baby, essentially.

So who started it all then?

A brave young pioneer called Franco Ziliani, who convinced his boss at the Berlucchi wine company to let him experiment with making traditional-method sparkling wines in 1961. His success attracted the attention of industrialists like the Zanella family and Vittorio Moretti, who today own the region's top brands– Ca' del Bosco and Bellavista.

Sounds like an Italian competitor to Champagne?

The Franciacorta Consortium would love to think so, but Franciacorta will never pose a serious threat to Champagne – rather it's a good alternative. Franciacorta comprises 2300 hectares (5700 acres) – compared to approximately 34,600 hectares in Champagne – and output hovers at around 14 million bottles per year. And, although more than 100 producers are in the business, their efforts pale in comparison to their French rivals, who manage to make more than 300 million bottles each year.

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But size isn't everything. Franciacorta instead focuses on maintaining a high-quality level of production across the board. It actually boasts the most stringent quality controls of any sparkling wine region, including a minimum aging time of 18 months for NV Franciacorta.

Enough proselytising from an obvious fan – what do other writers and sommeliers make of Franciacorta?

Tom Stevenson, the world's leading authority on sparkling wine, has this to say: "The quality [of Franciacorta] is astonishing, with very few poor producers... almost all share good winemaking, with clean fruit and a general stylistic coherence." Stevenson then goes on to describe the prestige cuvée Anna Maria Clementi from producer Ca' Del Bosco as "unmatched in quality by any Italian sparkling wine". He actually rated the wine above Cristal in a blind tasting organised by the winemaker Stefano Capelli. Praise indeed, especially considering that Stevenson waxes lyrical about Cristal.

And do sommeliers love it as much?

Locanda Locatelli's sommelier Virgilio Gennaro certainly does. He lists several brands at London's favourite Italian restaurant. "At first Franciacorta was admittedly a hand-sell, but now our regulars request it without being prompted. The quality is outstanding and often trumps Champagne, especially Ca' Del Bosco's Anna Maria Clementi. For me, it's the only region that truly rivals what the best in Champagne are doing," he says.

This all sounds great, but what's the catch?

Franciacorta's biggest problem is that few mainstream consumers recognize the category, and secondly the price being asked is often equivalent to NV Champagne. For example, leading brand Bellavista offer their NV Brut for an average price of $38. "Very little awareness exists of Franciacorta in the general New York restaurant scene," Dustin Wilson MS, the wine director at Eleven Madison Park, New York, told me earlier this year. He noted that: "While Franciacorta is a prestigious region, Cremant, Sekt and domestic sparkling sales outstrip it easily." For the most part, its success is confined to Italian venues.

That said, markets like Japan have really taken to Franciacorta, and in the UK it can be found in the country's arguably most famous restaurant, the recently reopened three-Michelin-starred Fat Duck, which is run by Heston Blumenthal. So Franciacorta must be doing something right.

You haven't mentioned terroir yet?

My apologies. The Franciacorta vineyards spread out from the beautiful lake Iseo in a sheltered valley that was formed by glacial erosion centuries earlier. A key feature of the terroir is that the vines are protected from harsh winds by amphitheater-shaped shills that flank the vineyards – the resulting climate is warm and generally sunny, giving riper fruit than you'd find in Champagne. Moreover, the topography and soil types are far more varied than in Champagne; Franciacorta is a complex mosaic of different soils, altitudes and aspects. So in other words, a winemaker's wet dream.

Does that reflect in the wines?

Franciacorta comes in various guises, dependent on the producer in question, vineyard sources and category of wine. Stylistically though, it's generally a riper, softer Chardonnay-dominated cousin of Champagne. And like Champagne, NV and vintage versions abound, in addition to good rosés and the riserva category, which must be aged on the lees for at least 60 months. Zero dosage wines are also currently in vogue in the region. Moreover it can age well, as anyone who has tried older vintages of Anna Maria Clementi will testify. My favorite style though is Saten, Franciacorta's term for Blanc de Blancs wines. Bottled under lower pressure than standard Franciacorta, the best examples are silky smooth and utterly exquisite.

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OK, I'm convinced. Where should I start?

The following offer a great introduction to Franciacorta. Not exactly cheap, but every bit the equal of Champagne. Better even.

Four favorite Franciacortas:

Prices worldwide on Wine-Searcher (US$, ex-tax, per 750-ml bottle):

Wine Name Avg. Price Bellavista Brut, Franciacorta DOCG $32 Ca' del Bosco Franciacorta Saten Millesimato DOCG $42 Il Mosnel Saten Brut, Franciacorta DOCG $20 Ferghettina Brut, Franciacorta DOCG $24 < Older Story Newer Story > Sign up for our Free Weekly Newsletter

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Tom Stevenson wrote: 07-Dec-2015 at 15:49:05 (GMT)

It's true, I love Ca'del Bosco's AnnaMaria Clementi (please note no space between Ca' and del and no space between Anna and Maria), but I cannot remember when I "actually rated the wine above Cristal in a blind tasting organised by the winemaker Stefano Capelli" ... when and where did this happen?