Franciacorta, Italian Sparkling Wine

With the hugely successful Prosecco sales, perhaps we should look closer at Italy’s lesser-known sparkling wine – Franciacorta.

Franciacorta DOCG is grown in the Province of Brescia (Lombardy). There are 5,400 acres of DOCG vineyards and  Franciacorta has had DOCG status since 1995.

Franciacorta is known for it’s high quality, often regarded as Italy’s finest wine and compared with an average Prosecco, this wine is much more complex.

This sparkling wine is produced using the “classic method” (metodo classico) with secondary fermentation in the bottle. Grapes grown are primarily Chardonnay (85%), Pinot Nero (10%) and Pinot Bianco (5%) varieties.

With the industry dating back just 50 years, there are only just over 100 growers in the region – yet they are very experienced and due to high demand their production has increased hugely in the past ten years. Sales in Britain alone more than doubled in 2014.

Some of the top houses producing Franciacorta include Ca’ del Bosco, Berlucchi and Bellavista.