Winemaker Notes
Only the finest grapes from the various crus are earmarked for this icon wine. And only in the finest years. Meticulous vinification and very lengthy bottle refinement with at least seven years on yeasts. This is how a great wine is created, unique, magnificently golden and with ultra-fine perlage. Extraordinarily complex bouquet, exceptionally full and persistent taste. An absolute Franciacorta.
Blend: 55% Chardonnay, 25% Pinot Bianco, 20% Pinot Nero
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Drop-dead gorgeous, this radiant sparkler opens with lovely aromas of white spring flower, pastry dough and white stone fruit. Smooth and silky, the radiant palate delivers Bartlett pear, golden apple, lemon zest and mineral that lead into a bone-dry finish. Small, continuous bubbles provide the silky background while vibrant acidity lends energy and remarkable freshness. It's already fantastic but will continue to age beautifully for years. Drink through 2028.
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James Suckling
A dense, layered sparking wine with lots of cooked-apple, cooked-pastry and pie-crust aromas and flavors. It’s full and thick, yet the very fine bubbles provide tension and form. Turns dry and solid at the end. A sparkling wine that develops on the palate and delivers it all. Drink now.
Representing the topmost expression of a Champagne house, a vintage Champagne is one made from the produce of a single, superior harvest year. Vintage Champagnes account for a mere 5% of total Champagne production and are produced about three times in a decade. Champagne is typically made as a blend of multiple years in order to preserve the house style; these will have non-vintage, or simply, NV on the label. The term, "vintage," as it applies to all wine, simply means a single harvest year.
Containing an exciting mix of wine producing subregions, Lombardy is Italy’s largest in size and population. Good quality Pinot noir, Bonarda and Barbera have elevated the reputation of the plains of Oltrepò Pavese. To its northeast in the Alps, Valtellina is the source of Italy’s best Nebbiolo wines outside of Piedmont. Often missed in the shadow of Prosecco, Franciacorta produces collectively Italy’s best Champagne style wines, and for the fun and less serious bubbly, find Lambrusco Mantovano around the city of Mantua. Lugana, a dry white with a devoted following, is produced to the southwest of Lake Garda.