Ferghettina

Welcome to Ferghettina, they first harvested in 1991 for their red and white wines, with Franciacorta first being harvested in 1992, Roberto Gatti is the father and founder of Ferghettina. He started off by renting a small garage/old building and not having any money to buy land or equipment for the production, he had to borrow money from the bank to start the venture.

They now own 30 vineyards, and rent a further 190 vineyards, for 20 to 25 years at a time. All of their vineyards are organic.

Ferghettina has around 60 workers, many of which are manual hands, with at least 70% working in the vineyards.

They have a production of 500,000, producing 7 different labels of Franciacorta.

Now, this winery has an element to it that helps it stand out as something truly different, they have some truly beautiful vineyards, a wonderful tasting room, a cellar and an Oenothèque that could keep you entertained for months, but it is their square-shaped bottles that set them apart.

We’re used to seeing wineries trying something new, with unique bottle designs, embossed bottles, creative labels and so on. Still, this design was chosen for what they truly believed in, and they were smart enough to obtain the patent for the bottle design, but will the other wineries of Franciacorta decide to make the switch?

It was in 2011, on the 2007 harvest, that they started to use the patented square bottle design, believing it overall enhances the quality of wine within the bottle, their consumers seem to love it, but other wineries seem unconvinced.

They put together a focus group of 21 people to taste the difference between a standard bottle and a square bottle, the results found that 19 out of 21 people who tested the same sparkling wine from both bottles, said that sample A, the one in the square bottle, was more complex.

An interesting result, unfortunately, I can’t comment on this study as we were not given the chance to compare, it would have certainly been interesting to have tasted the difference, but Ferghettina have moved full steam ahead with their square bottle design, so for better or worse, this is the future of Ferghettina, and it is certainly a great marketing tool for them to take advantage of.

Satèn 2020: “Fruity soft and delicate zestyness, buttery fluffy pancakes, minerals.”

Milledi 2020: “Creamy mousse character, pastries with lemon curd and lemon skin.”

Rosé: “Ripe raspberries, pink rose petals, strawberry, strawberry leaves, foliage, natural herbs, moss in the palate with red apples, red fruits, and red berries.”

Extra Brut Riserva 2015 – 6-7 thousand bottles a year: “Cherry sweets, chewy sweets, sweet candy and pastry tart, gooseberries.”