Following last year’s huge success in the heart of Bavaria, wine-lovers in Munich—who have always been some of the most enthusiastic admirers of Italy’s sparklers–will once again savour the classic-method sparkling wines of Franciacorta.

Ambassadors of our growing area will be 20 Franciacorta producers, who will personally convey to Festival participants all the remarkable passion lying behind each bubble in the glass, all the expertise required to transform the treasure in each berry into a wine that can excite rich emotions.

Berlucchi will offer our German fans the “two faces” of our production: the nonpareil crispness and verticality of our Berlucchi ’61 Nature 2010 and the seductive elegance of our Berlucchi ’61 Satèn.

The Munich public, too, will be able to sample these wines during a particularly lengthy public tasting, from 3.00 to 7.00pm, to give as many people as possible the opportunity to get to know—and to fall in love with!–the intriguing variety of Franciacorta producers.

The press will be treated to an in-depth seminar, from 2.00 to 3.00pm, on the theme of “Italy’s best bubbles: the unique Franciacorta.”

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The Festival, which will feature the presence of 33 Franciacorta producers, will also include a seminar led by May Matta-Aliah in the morning followed by an unstructured tasting for trade professionals.

The wine-loving public will be welcome to participate from 6.00 to 9.00pm. We look forward to seeing you in the Big Apple! #cheers

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Some 20 Consorzio Franciacorta member producers will participate in the wine event in Austria’s capital which, as usual, will be enriched by in-depth workshops and themed tastings of the area’s wines.

Berlucchi will offer two world-class classics in its ’61 family of Franciacorta. The velvet-smooth, beautifully-balanced ’61 Brut is a “wine for all courses”—of a meal, of course, and the nonpareil partner with Franciacorta’s cuisine, above all filled fresh-pasta casoncelli and lake-fish—perch and char. The vibrant ’62 Rosé pairs deliciously with salumi, full-flavored first courses, and cheeses—including aged cheeses–, while its firm structure brings out the best in shellfish.

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The morning will feature a meeting with importers to the Land of the Rising Sun, at which will be present the President and Director of the Consorzio Franciacorta, who will deliver a report on the years 2016-2017 and will illustrate the 2018 programme.

The afternoon will offer a tasting of the wines of all participating wineries, first for journalists and sector professionals, then for the public,

Berlucchi will be pouring ’61 Satèn, a marriage of an enfolding, creamy mousse and strikingly rich flavours on the palate, and ’61 Nature 2010, an ultra-elegant vintage-dated Franciacorta styled for true connoisseurs of a style that is the quintessence of Franciacorta.

This pair of wines, then, will be a performing a “return concert” by Berlucchi, echoing their performance at the Festival Franciacorta in Lugano on 23 October

Franciacorta Day in Tokyo will also include an in-depth workshop on the Franciacorta growing area, designed for journalists, hotel, and restaurant professionals in Japan.

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On Monday, 2 October, in the exclusive Chelsea Old Town Hall in King’s Road, you can enjoy an entire afternoon meeting representatives from 27 Franciacorta producers, among them, of course, Guido Berlucchi. We will be pouring our classic, admirably-balanced

’61 Brut, and ’61 Nature 2010, a complex, mineral-edged vintage-dated Franciacorta that is impressively dry on the palate.

In addition to the tasting, guests will be able to gain an in-depth introduction to the Franciacorta growing area through two special themed tastings and workshops.

The first, conducted by United Kingdom Brand Ambassador Tom Harrow, will focus on the future of Franciacorta, which this year is celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata). The second, an explicitly educational workshop, will be presented by journalist and wine expert Susy Atkins.

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That’s how the historical roots, the production method and the magic of Franciacorta’s effervescence merge with the beauty of the land of origin, where the evolution of vine, the grapes growth and the vineyard works are carried out in a lovely landscape, dotted with villas, castles and abbeys, surrounded by the wonderful landscapes of the Sebino peat bogs and the Lake Iseo.

All the charm of Franciacorta in a stylized and emotional movie, just like the wine it narrates, a perfect combination of technology and terroir.

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At Guido Berlucchi, we welcome you all year round.

A professional guide will accompany you and help you discover the places where Franciacorta’s history was–and is still being–written. You will wander through halls, alcoves, vaults, and galleries where tradition and modernity meet and dance together.

[cta]Reserve now[/cta]

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So let’s talk about the grapes that go into producing Franciacorta wine.

Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are the most widely-used, but Pinot Bianco may also be used to produce Franciacorta, although never over 50%.

It is easy to find 100% Chardonnay Franciacortas from some producers. Satèn is almost always 100% Chardonnay; Pinot Noir may not be used to produce this style.

But a blend of the two principal grapes is more common. In the “white,” or clear versions of Franciacorta, Chardonnay almost always predominates, while the proportion of Pinot Noir increases in the rosé versions, in which its use must be at least 25%.

There are exceptions, of course, such as excellent monovarietal (100%) Chardonnays, or Pinot Noir vinified as a white wine, with minimal syrup dosages added, in order to showcase the varietal character of the grape.

Chardonnay clusters being loaded into the press

But what is the main difference between the grapes?

Chardonnay develops a complex of aromatic components–in particular with a lengthier maturation sur lie–ideal for giving the wine harmony and smoothness.
Pinot Noir provides body, weight, and minerality; it can be lean and austere, sometimes almost biting.
This is the reason that the two grapes are often used complementarily, in various proportions, precisely to maximize in the wine certain of those characteristics.

So, if you are looking for a wine that is quite smooth, try a monovarietal Chardonnay, whereas if you prefer more structure and body, choose a 100% Pinot Noir. In between, you will have available an incredible array of variety and complexity, and perhaps the one that you will like best with be a marriage of the two…

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Ziliani has been Berlucchi’s winemaker since1988, when he worked alongside his father Franco (who created the first Franciacorta, in 1961), and over the last twenty years he has had overall responsibility for production.
Guido Berlucchi produces four lines of DOCG Franciacortas, wines with very distinctive, individual sensory signatures: the cuvées combining Chardonnay base wines, which are marked by elegance and finesse, and those of Pinot Noir, which represent body and strength, must respect the established identity of the various wines.

“We use the term cuvée for the “assemblage” of still wines, which are made from different grape varieties, grown in different vineyards, often belonging to different vintages. We the add a mixture of cultured yeasts and cane sugar to that final cuvée, which will create the effervescence, that miracle in the bottle, which raises to a greater power the original qualities of the base, and reveals, many months later, a completely new wine, Franciacorta.”

Continues Ziliani: “Our starting point consists of the 150 base wines at our disposition, which are from the grapes grown in 600 hectares of vineyard in the Franciacorta growing area. Beginning in December, our tasting panel begins the tastings of these base wines, which are kept in steel tanks and oak barrels. They identify their individual characteristics and design the assemblage, which is a very complex job, requiring passion and dedication–just like composing a symphony!”

Even the “reserve wines”–wines held back from previous vintages–can be tesserae in the mosaic, since they can ensure sensory continuity and consistency of a particular Franciacorta wine.
“For Cuvée Imperiale Brut, in fact, Berlucchi’s best-known and most widely-available Franciacorta, we assemble together one hundred base wines, with some 10 percent from previous vintages. On the other hand, to create the Palazzo Lana wines, our Riserva Franciacortas, we need only 4, maximum 6, base wines.”

Ziliani and his colleagues were involved in tastings until mid-March, then in April the tirage, or secondary fermentation bottling, began for the 2012 Franciacortas. And for the current vintage, the first toasts will have to wait for at least two years. “And at that moment, we could very well be surprised, since nature makes every growing year literally unique, and thus its wines, too.”

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