Franciacorta

Franciacorta, is it a wine region you should be on the look out for? Will it be the next rival to Champagne, what does it taste like? Is it worth your time?

Located in the small wine-producing area in Lombardy, in Northern Italy. Franciacorta is what it’s famous for, which has been crafted very much in the image of Champagne. Franciacorta want to be the Champagne of Italy, the rival to the household name of Champagne for both dominance on quality and customer experience.

Franciacorta, like Champagne, refers to both the geographical region and the wine. Franciacorta was granted DOCG, the highest level of Italian wine classification, in 1995. Franciacorta is produced using the Traditional Method, using the grapes of Chardonnay, Pinot Nero, and Pinot Blanco, plus Erbamat, but only in small quantities at a maximum of 10%. One of the Glass of Bubbly writers, Paolo Valente delved deeper into Erbamat, The Fourth Grape of Franciacorta

The region of Franciacorta produces enough grapes on it’s 7,000+ acres for over 120 wineries to release 20 million bottles per year. It’s tiny compaired to Champagnes 271.4 million, and nearly 90% of Franciacortais sold and drunk in Italy. From 1999 to 2009, sales of Franciacorta grew from 2.9 million to 6.7 million bottles.

Will Franciacorta become the Champagne of Italy? In my opinion, no, Trentodoc has a better chance of making that happen. Franciacorta like to use less sugar in their bottles, to let their terroir do the talking, so it goes against the palates of us in the UK and they don’t have the level of production necessary to meet the demand of us thirsty Brits. We tend to drink Brut and above. It’s less common that we drink something like an Extra Brut or Brut Nature, which is what Franciacorta focus most on.

Can you age Franciacorta? Aged Franciacorta is superb, but it takes half a lifetime to achieve. the oldest and finest bottle of Franciacorta I’ve tasted was from Ca’ del Bosco with their Annamaria Clementi R.S. 1980 vintage: “Ca’ del Bosco’s Annamaria Clementi R.S. 1980 was recently launched in London at a Special Dinner at Private Member’s Club, Harry’s bar in Mayfair with Jancis Robinson, Hugh Johnson, MW’s and some of the largest wine publications, having tasted the incredible ageing potential of Franciacorta myself, I see fantastic promise for the future of Franciacorta.” – Oliver Walkey – Glass of Bubbly

My statement still stands; it was an incredible tasting experience. It’s night and day compared to what Franciacorta currently produce for people to drink now. There are people who very much like Franciacorta, such as Yara Sacchetto, one of Glass of Bubbly’s writers, who put together a Quick Guide On Franciacorta, but for myself it lacks much charm, the characters from the wines are more harsh with acidity due to the lower amounts of sugar, there are simularities with Champagne, but it’s not currently competeting on quality, quantity or price.

I got the oppotunitiy to Discover Franciacorta in 2024, took meet some of the winemakers, tour the wineries, experience the culture of the region, like any wine region it has character, but most of that comes from the individuals within the wineries, the main touristic attraction it has going for it is the magnificent Lake Iseo, with some stunning views, it would have been incredible to have enjoyed a glass of Franciacorta aboard a boat in the lake.

I was able to visit wineries such as 1701 Franciacorta, Berlucchi Guido and Ferghettina. There are other wineries such as Villa Franciacorta, Terre d’Aenor and Mirabella also to look out for.

If you want to explore Franciacorta further I’d suggest listening to Stefania & Christopher’s 5th Episode focusing on Franciacorta.