Franciacorta

Franciacorta Brut: Chardonnay-led, citrus and brioche - the everyday classic.

The standard Franciacorta: Chardonnay with some Pinot Nero and Pinot Bianco, fermented in the bottle. Fresh, with citrus, white flowers and a gentle toastiness. Non-vintage Brut is the best-value way to start, and works from aperitivo to fish.

The standard Franciacorta: Chardonnay with some Pinot Nero and Pinot Bianco, fermented in the bottle. Fresh, with citrus, white flowers and a gentle toastiness. Non-vintage Brut is the best-value way to start, and works from aperitivo to fish.

Satèn: white grapes, gentle bubbles, silky - Franciacorta's signature.

Mostly Chardonnay, sometimes with Pinot Bianco, always Brut and bottled at lower pressure. Expect white flowers, almond and hazelnut, with a creamy, smooth feel. It is a rounder, softer alternative to a sharper Brut.

Mostly Chardonnay, sometimes with Pinot Bianco, always Brut and bottled at lower pressure. Expect white flowers, almond and hazelnut, with a creamy, smooth feel. It is a rounder, softer alternative to a sharper Brut.

Casoncelli (filled pasta of Brescia) with butter and sage, and a Satèn.

A local stuffed pasta with a cheese-and-bread filling, served simply with butter and sage. Satèn's creamy bubbles match the richness and its acidity refreshes the palate.

A local stuffed pasta with a cheese-and-bread filling, served simply with butter and sage. Satèn's creamy bubbles match the richness and its acidity refreshes the palate.

Celebration: Ca' del Bosco Annamaria Clementi, Bellavista Riserva Vittorio Moretti or Uberti Sublimis.

The local high end: long-aged prestige cuvées that need no Champagne comparison. Annamaria Clementi is the most celebrated; Uberti Sublimis is the value-minded choice.

The local high end: long-aged prestige cuvées that need no Champagne comparison. Annamaria Clementi is the most celebrated; Uberti Sublimis is the value-minded choice.

Off the beaten path: an organic Franciacorta from Barone Pizzini or Mosnel.

Try Barone Pizzini's Naturae or Mosnel's Nature, made from organic grapes: purer and drier than a typical Brut.

Try Barone Pizzini's Naturae or Mosnel's Nature, made from organic grapes: purer and drier than a typical Brut.

Millesimato = one harvest, made in good years and aged longer.

A Millesimato carries a vintage year. It comes from the best base wines of a single good season and rests longer on its lees than the standard wine, so it is richer, toastier and a step up in price and depth.

A Millesimato carries a vintage year. It comes from the best base wines of a single good season and rests longer on its lees than the standard wine, so it is richer, toastier and a step up in price and depth.

Ricci Curbastro: family estate in Capriolo; a classic Satèn Millesimato.

A historic family house with a villa, underground cellar and wine museum. Its vintage Satèn is soft, floral and balanced and a good-value staple.

A historic family house with a villa, underground cellar and wine museum. Its vintage Satèn is soft, floral and balanced and a good-value staple.

Franciacorta Rosé: Pinot Nero in the glass - wild strawberry, raspberry, creamy.

Made with a good share of Pinot Nero, which gives pink colour and red-berry fruit with a little grip. More food-friendly than white Franciacorta; a pretty aperitivo wine and good with richer dishes.

Made with a good share of Pinot Nero, which gives pink colour and red-berry fruit with a little grip. More food-friendly than white Franciacorta; a pretty aperitivo wine and good with richer dishes.

Millesimato and Riserva: vintage fizz aged for years - deep, toasty, serious.

The top of the ladder. Vintage-dated and Riserva wines come from the best years and spend a long time on the lees, so they are rich, toasty and complex, and many are bone dry. Serve them with food rather than as an aperitif.

The top of the ladder. Vintage-dated and Riserva wines come from the best years and spend a long time on the lees, so they are rich, toasty and complex, and many are bone dry. Serve them with food rather than as an aperitif.

Riserva = the longest-aged, top rung of the Franciacorta ladder.

Riserva wines come from one outstanding harvest and stay on the lees for years before release. Expect deep toast, roasted nuts, dried fruit and a creamy, vinous palate - a wine for food, not just an aperitivo.

Riserva wines come from one outstanding harvest and stay on the lees for years before release. Expect deep toast, roasted nuts, dried fruit and a creamy, vinous palate - a wine for food, not just an aperitivo.

Curtefranca: the still side - Chardonnay-led white, Bordeaux-style red.

The same hills make still wines too. The white is citrusy and mineral, sometimes oaked; the red is a fresh, medium-bodied Merlot-Cabernet blend with cherry and blackcurrant. Good with Lake Iseo fish and lighter meats, and rarely seen outside Lombardy.

The same hills make still wines too. The white is citrusy and mineral, sometimes oaked; the red is a fresh, medium-bodied Merlot-Cabernet blend with cherry and blackcurrant. Good with Lake Iseo fish and lighter meats, and rarely seen outside Lombardy.

Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Carménère: Curtefranca's fresh red blend.

The still red wine of the zone is a Bordeaux-style blend, light on oak and medium in body, with cherry, blackcurrant and a leafy edge. A food wine for the lake region.

The still red wine of the zone is a Bordeaux-style blend, light on oak and medium in body, with cherry, blackcurrant and a leafy edge. A food wine for the lake region.

Organic grapes and low or zero dosage are the modern local edge.

Organic pioneers such as Barone Pizzini, followed by Ca' del Bosco and Berlucchi, farm without synthetic chemicals, and several houses, Mosnel among them, make cuvées from organic grapes; many also bottle Pas Dosé wines. The goal is purer fruit with nothing added to hide behind.

Organic pioneers such as Barone Pizzini, followed by Ca' del Bosco and Berlucchi, farm without synthetic chemicals, and several houses, Mosnel among them, make cuvées from organic grapes; many also bottle Pas Dosé wines. The goal is purer fruit with nothing added to hide behind.

Berlucchi: the 1961 pioneer; '61 and '61 Nature are the classics.

The house whose 1961 release started modern Franciacorta. Its '61 range is a dependable, fairly priced bottle, and Palazzo Lana is the top Riserva.

Franciacorta's modern history begins at Berlucchi. In 1961 Franco Ziliani, working with Guido Berlucchi, launched a bottle-fermented 'Pinot di Franciacorta', the wine that triggered the rush of entrepreneurs from Milan and Brescia who followed. The late-1960s pioneers travelled to France to study Champagne methods. Berlucchi's cellars date to the 17th century, and the house has been organic since 2016. The range runs from the '61 (a Brut) and '61 Nature, which is made with no dosage, through Cuvée Imperiale to the Riserva Franco Ziliani and the Palazzo Lana Riserva, shown at Vinitaly in 2024. It is the safest historic name for tasting a classic Brut, and the story alone makes it a good first visit.

Hill, slope and altitude: Franciacorta is a patchwork of micro-areas.

The zone is not uniform. Slopes face different ways, altitude changes the ripening, and individual producers prize particular hillsides for particular grapes.

Franciacorta spreads over rolling morainic hills, and growers describe several distinct micro-areas rather than one flat plain. Monte Orfano, with gentle south-west-facing slopes, helps grapes ripen while holding acidity. Pinot Nero tends to be planted higher up on poorer, less fertile ground, where it gives structure and red-fruit tension, while Chardonnay does well across most of the zone. Lake-side sites near Corte Franca and Provaglio d'Iseo feel the lake's moderating effect most. Leading houses blend across several of these sites: Ca' del Bosco's Annamaria Clementi, for instance, draws Chardonnay from vineyards in Erbusco, Adro, Corte Franca, Iseo and Passirano. For a traveler, this explains why two Brut bottles from neighbouring villages can taste quite different, and why a blend across many sites often tastes more complete.

Ca' del Bosco Annamaria Clementi: the house's top wine, a Riserva Dosaggio Zero.

Made only from the best parcels and given years on the lees; often called Franciacorta's most prestigious wine.

Annamaria Clementi is Ca' del Bosco's prestige cuvée and the wine many consider Franciacorta's most aristocratic. The 2014 blend was built from Chardonnay from some fourteen vineyards across Erbusco, Adro, Corte Franca, Iseo and Passirano, with Pinot Bianco and Pinot Nero, fermented partly in small casks at least three years old and then left on the lees for around eight years. It is disgorged under vacuum with no added sulphur and sold as a Riserva Dosaggio Zero. Despite having no dosage it tastes rich, with grilled apricot, white peach, toasted nuts and a silky mousse. Reviewers advise a couple of years of extra cellaring after release, and the cuvée is also made in a rosé version. It is the Franciacorta to buy if you only want one great bottle.

Bellavista: Moretti's house; Riserva Vittorio Moretti and Alma Assemblage lead the range.

One of the zone's top names, part of the Terra Moretti group. The Riserva Vittorio Moretti is its flagship; Alma Assemblage and Teatro alla Scala are the signature blends.

Bellavista, founded in 1977 and part of Vittorio Moretti's Terra Moretti group, is the other great house of Franciacorta alongside Ca' del Bosco. Its approach is blending: many small parcels vinified separately and then assembled into cuvées. The flagship is the Riserva Vittorio Moretti, with the 2018 currently featured by the winery; the Alma Assemblage is the signature non-vintage blend, and the Brut Teatro alla Scala is the version made for the Milan opera house. The Vintages collection covers the single-year releases. Contadi Castaldi, a more affordable sister label, shares the family. Bellavista wines are polished, precise and age well, and they are widely exported, so you may well find them at home - but the Riserva is worth buying on the spot if you see it.

Uberti: Erbusco house; Sublimis and Comari del Salem are the cult wines.

A top-rated, good-value family house. Sublimis is a Chardonnay-only Pas Dosé; Comari del Salem is its vintage Extra Brut.

Uberti, based in Erbusco, is one of those houses that critics rate in the top tier while keeping prices fairer than the best-known names. Its flagship Sublimis is a vintage Franciacorta Pas Dosé made from Chardonnay alone, left on the lees for at least five years, so it comes with no sugar but plenty of toasted-almond depth and a fine, refined bubble. Comari del Salem is the vintage Extra Brut and shows more fruit and charm. The house also makes Rosé and Satèn lines. For visitors, Uberti is the sort of address where a tasting can compare Brut, Satèn, Rosé and the long-aged cuvées in one sitting, which is a good way to understand how time on the lees changes the wine.

Erbamat: Brescia's late-ripening, high-acid local grape, now revived.

A native white that ripens very late and keeps sharp acidity. Used in small amounts, it adds zest and helps freshness as summers warm.

Erbamat is a white grape native to the province of Brescia, grown for centuries and known to the sixteenth-century Brescian agronomist Agostino Gallo. It ripens more than a month after Chardonnay and the Pinots, and holds high acidity, which makes it valuable as the climate warms: it can protect the freshness of a Franciacorta without the green notes of an underripe base wine. It has been permitted in small proportions in the blend and has been revived since about 2017. In the glass it is rarely identifiable, but it adds zest and lift to a Brut or Pas Dosé. A handful of producers now talk about it; ask at the cellar door if their Franciacorta includes it and whether you can taste it as a base wine.

Barone Pizzini: the organic pioneer; Rosé, Satèn and Bagnadore are the wines.

The first Franciacorta house to farm organically, since 1997, at Provaglio d'Iseo. Its range includes Animante, Satèn, Rosé and the Bagnadore Riserva.

Barone Pizzini describes itself as the first winery in Franciacorta to make organic wine, with organic viticulture dating from 1997, and it is widely seen as a sustainability pioneer. It sits at Provaglio d'Iseo, close to Lake Iseo, and runs vineyard-to-glass tours ending in a guided tasting, with a shop open Monday to Saturday and Sunday mornings. The range covers Animante, the Satèn, the Rosé, Golf 1927 and the Bagnadore line, which includes a Rosé Riserva, as well as Naturae. Its Rosé has won a top Gambero Rosso award. Pizzini is a smart choice if organic farming matters to you, and it makes an excellent Rosé that shows how Pinot Nero changes Franciacorta.

Lake Iseo and Alpine breezes keep the grapes fresh enough for fizz.

Good sparkling wine needs ripe fruit that still holds high acidity. The lake smooths out summer heat and winter cold, and cool air flows down from the Camonica valley, so grapes ripen gently and stay lively.

Good sparkling wine needs ripe fruit that still holds high acidity. The lake smooths out summer heat and winter cold, and cool air flows down from the Camonica valley, so grapes ripen gently and stay lively.

In the glass: Fresh acidity with ripe citrus and orchard fruit, not a green or heavy base wine

Glacial moraine soils of sand, silt and gravel over limestone.

A glacier from the Camonica valley left an amphitheatre of hills made of sand, silt and stony gravel. The soils drain well and are low in clay, which stresses vines moderately and brings out the mineral, saline edge in the wines.

A glacier from the Camonica valley left an amphitheatre of hills made of sand, silt and stony gravel. The soils drain well and are low in clay, which stresses vines moderately and brings out the mineral, saline edge in the wines.

In the glass: Mineral, slightly saline freshness and fine, elegant structure

Time on the lees is the dial: longer means creamier and toastier.

Sparkling wine gains brioche, toast and a creamy mousse the longer it rests on its dead yeast cells. This is why Millesimato and Riserva cost more and taste deeper than the standard Brut.

Sparkling wine gains brioche, toast and a creamy mousse the longer it rests on its dead yeast cells. This is why Millesimato and Riserva cost more and taste deeper than the standard Brut.

In the glass: Brioche, toast and nut flavours, finer and creamier bubbles

Hill, slope and altitude: Franciacorta is a patchwork of micro-areas.

The zone is not uniform. Slopes face different ways, altitude changes the ripening, and individual producers prize particular hillsides for particular grapes.

Franciacorta spreads over rolling morainic hills, and growers describe several distinct micro-areas rather than one flat plain. Monte Orfano, with gentle south-west-facing slopes, helps grapes ripen while holding acidity. Pinot Nero tends to be planted higher up on poorer, less fertile ground, where it gives structure and red-fruit tension, while Chardonnay does well across most of the zone. Lake-side sites near Corte Franca and Provaglio d'Iseo feel the lake's moderating effect most. Leading houses blend across several of these sites: Ca' del Bosco's Annamaria Clementi, for instance, draws Chardonnay from vineyards in Erbusco, Adro, Corte Franca, Iseo and Passirano. For a traveler, this explains why two Brut bottles from neighbouring villages can taste quite different, and why a blend across many sites often tastes more complete.

In the glass: Tauter, tighter wines from higher, cooler sites; rounder, riper wines from lower or sheltered ones

Organic farming is unusually widespread in Franciacorta.

Producers here have embraced organic viticulture on a large scale, led by early adopters such as Barone Pizzini. For the drinker it is a sign of care in a region where many top houses farm organically or are converting.

Producers here have embraced organic viticulture on a large scale, led by early adopters such as Barone Pizzini. For the drinker it is a sign of care in a region where many top houses farm organically or are converting.

In the glass: Purer, cleaner fruit; supports low-dosage styles

Bubbles are made in the bottle, as in Champagne.

The base wine is bottled with yeast and sugar and ferments a second time, trapping the bubbles. The bottles then rest, are turned gradually to collect the yeast, and are opened to remove it. The process is slow and hands-on, which is what you pay for.

The base wine is bottled with yeast and sugar and ferments a second time, trapping the bubbles. The bottles then rest, are turned gradually to collect the yeast, and are opened to remove it. The process is slow and hands-on, which is what you pay for.

In the glass: Fine, persistent bubbles with brioche and toast character

Parcel blending, reserve wines and some cask work add depth.

Top houses ferment parcels separately and blend them, sometimes adding older reserve wines. Ca' del Bosco ferments part of Annamaria Clementi in small casks of at least three years old, which add texture rather than oak flavour.

Top houses ferment parcels separately and blend them, sometimes adding older reserve wines. Ca' del Bosco ferments part of Annamaria Clementi in small casks of at least three years old, which add texture rather than oak flavour.

In the glass: Greater complexity and a creamier, more vinous palate

Organic grapes and low or zero dosage are the modern local edge.

Organic pioneers such as Barone Pizzini, followed by Ca' del Bosco and Berlucchi, farm without synthetic chemicals, and several houses, Mosnel among them, make cuvées from organic grapes; many also bottle Pas Dosé wines. The goal is purer fruit with nothing added to hide behind.

Organic pioneers such as Barone Pizzini, followed by Ca' del Bosco and Berlucchi, farm without synthetic chemicals, and several houses, Mosnel among them, make cuvées from organic grapes; many also bottle Pas Dosé wines. The goal is purer fruit with nothing added to hide behind.

In the glass: Cleaner, tauter and drier wines

Disgorgement date: how long the wine sat on the lees before release.

Some producers print the date the yeast was removed. The longer it sat on the lees, the toastier it tastes, and a wine drunk a year or two after disgorging usually shows best.

Some producers print the date the yeast was removed. The longer it sat on the lees, the toastier it tastes, and a wine drunk a year or two after disgorging usually shows best.

In the glass: Fresher and more precise if recent; toastier if older