Winemaker Notes
The essence of thirty years’ experience. Love of one’s land. The utmost expression of the soils of Franciacorta. Experience and intuition that, one harvest after another, form an intimate bond with the raw material – the grapes – and the long process that transforms them into wine.
Blend: 75% Chardonnay, 22.5% Pinot Noir, 2.5% Pinot Blanc
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
There's a succulent juiciness to the flavors of apricot, passion fruit and guava, balanced nicely by a minerally underpinning of chalk and saline, plus a swathe of chiseled acidity. Detailed hints of chamomile, beeswax, candied ginger and biscuit play on the creamy finish. Chardonnay, Pinot Nero and Pinot Bianco. Disgorged autumn 2024. Drink now through 2030. 4,500 cases imported.
A term typically reserved for Champagne and Sparkling Wines, non-vintage or simply “NV” on a label indicates a blend of finished wines from different vintages (years of harvest). To make non-vintage Champagne, typically the current year’s harvest (in other words, the current vintage) forms the base of the blend. Finished wines from previous years, called “vins de reserve” are blended in at approximately 10-50% of the total volume in order to achieve the flavor, complexity, body and acidity for the desired house style. A tiny proportion of Champagnes are made from a single vintage.
There are also some very large production still wines that may not claim one particular vintage. This would be at the discretion of the winemaker’s goals for character of the final wine.
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.