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Although best known these days for its sparkling wines, still wines have a much longer history in Franciacorta, as testified by Pliny and Virgil. However, it is claimed by some people that sparkling Franciacorta wines are mentioned in Girolamo Conforto’s 1570 book Libellus de Vino Mordaci. “Mordace” means “biting”, which some take to refer to a sparkle. Franciacorta achieved DOC status in 1967 when there were only 11 producers of sparkling wine.
The leading Franciacorta producer – and the outstanding producer of sparkling wines in Italy – is Ca’ del Bosco, which takes its name from the house bought by Annamaria Clementi Zanella, mother of current owner Maurizio Zanella, in the 1960s.
Vines were planted on the estate in 1968. Essentially, Ca’ del Bosco makes Italian versions of the French classics Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne. A Bianco di Franciacorta 1972 was released in 1973 and a red Rosso di Franciacorta 1975 in 1977. The first sparkling wines were made in 1976.
With several other writers, bloggers and sommeliers (including that promising newcomer Michael Broadbent), I was invited to taste Ca’ del Bosco’s wines at Francesco Mazzei’s London restaurant L'Anima on 14 September.
We began with Ca’ del Bosco’s expertly made Cuvée Prestige NV. This is mainly Chardonnay, with some Pinot Bianco and Pinot Nero, and generally harvested during the last week of August and / or first week of September. The relatively late harvesting – later than some of the other sparkling wines here, at any rate – creates a soft, generous and moreish wine.
The brisk Dosage Zero 2006 has a similar composition to the NV but, as its name indicates, without any dosage. Cuvée Prestige receives a spoonful of sugar; Dosage Zero nothing but a pat on the back.
The ’06 had over four years ageing in bottle before release. Indeed, most of Ca’ del Bosco’s wines receive extended bottle ageing before entering the market, which doubtless makes them taste better but isn’t good for cash flow.
With business plans like this it’s no wonder Italy is on the verge of going bust.
Named after the aforementioned Annamaria, the current release of Ca’ del Bosco’s top sparkler Cuvée Annamaria Clementi is the 2003 vintage. With dosage restored to service and six and a half years on the lees, this is sweeter than the 2006 and conspicuously richer, longer, deeper and more complex ¬– a very good bottle and probably Italy’s finest sparkling wine.
In 1995, Franciacorta was granted DOCG status – but only for the sparkling wines. Since then non-fizzies have come under the Curtefranca DOC. The 2007 Curtefranca Chardonnay was a nice drink but fat, buttery Chardonnay is (or can be) made everywhere and anywhere and often a good deal less expensively than at Ca’ del Bosco. But Signor Zanella’s sculptures have to be paid for somehow.
We had a ten-year old example of the Chardonnay, which in 2001 came under what was then called the Terre di Franciacorta DOC. It was renamed as Curtefranca in July 2008… Italian wine laws and names are sometimes as tangled as bowl of tagliatelle. Fermented in new oak barrels, the 2001 was very oxidative – if not oxidised – and not for keeping.
The two whites were drunk with homemade cavatelli (pasta shells) with porcini mushrooms and langoustines – a very tasty and very typical Italian dish, made from simple but high quality ingredients.
Two vintages of the Bordeaux blend Maurizio Zanella Rosso del Sebino IGT were sampled. This IGT embraces several villages surrounding the Sant’Anna area west of Brescia. Red wines can be made from Barbera, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenère, Merlot, Nebbiolo and Pinot Noir (phew!).
The 2003, like the Cuvée Annamaria Clementi of the same year, showed good freshness and vigour for that notoriously hot vintage. As with Angelo Gaja’s bottlings, Zanella’s name dominates his wine labels in large typeface, which suggests a man who possesses plenty of self-confidence. Indeed, Signor Zanella has a flair for PR. Some years ago Helmut Newton photographed several naked lovelies in the winery and vineyards of Ca’ del Bosco, which brings another, not necessarily vinous meaning to “skin contact”.
With a bit more Cabernet Franc than the ’03, the 1998 had stronger “Right Bank” character. The nose was all cigar box and earthiness. The red wines were tried with a lovely spit roast leg of Welsh lamb with new season cannellini beans and kale.
Even the charming, Pinot Nero-based 2003 Cuvée Annamaria Clementi Rosé couldn’t counterbalance the excessive richness of the pitta impigliata desert, a Calabrian speciality that resembles a very nutty Christmas cake. It was a bravura technical performance – I wouldn’t know how to make it – but it was painfully heavy and ponderous.
Full marks to Signor Zanella for his excellent wines, then – but only 9½ / 10 to Francesco Mazzei.
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