FRANCIACORTA.

If you haven’t heard of Franciacorta, don’t worry, you will as it’s becoming increasingly popular. 

Franciacorta ain’t cheap but it’s an attractive alternative to Champagne and often has a price tag £10 lower than the King of Sparklers, (Franciacorta Brut Borgo Imperiale DOCG, £28, Waitrose). 

Franciacorta comes from the Lombardy region of northern Italy towards the Swiss-Austrian border, from vineyards to the south of Lake Iseo. For those who visit the Italian Lakes on holiday, Lake Garda is not a million miles away from these celebrated high-altitude vineyards. 

The best vineyards are on limestone-based soils at an altitude of about 300 metres asl. where our ol’ mate Chardonnay is the major player with Pinot Nero (Pinot Noir) and Pinot Blanc also chipping in.  

Franciacorta is made in the same way as Champagne with ‘first fermentation’ dry, still white wine undergoing a second fermentation inside a sealed bottle, producing a little more alcohol and carbon dioxide gas. As the gas can’t escape the sealed bottle it becomes part of the wine. Hey Presto, we have bubbles, we have Franciacorta!  

After the second fermentation the exhausted yeast leaves a very fine sediment (the lees) in contact with the sparkling wine. The period of time the ‘lees’ are left in contact with the wine is an indication of sparkling wine quality; this is the source of the attractive fresh bread, nutty, yeasty aromas you pick up on good sparklers.  

The Franciacorta winemakers are very proud that 14 million bottles of Franciacorta stay ‘on the lees’ for 18 months.  

So, how about ringing the changes and trying something different to celebrate the warm summer months. When you taste, and smell, the rich, honeyed, biscuity, fresh citrus delights I don’t think it’ll be the last bottle you’ll open of this sparkling Italian beauty.