Terramoretti ~ Bellavista

“I have always been keen on the land. I started making wine as a hobby, to escape from the routine and I found myself the owner of a gem of a company.”  Vittorio Moretti.

Above and below the same hill, as far as the eye can see, Vittorio Moretti has united his house, the first vineyard, the cellar, a large hotel, Henri Chenot’s Espace Vitalité spa and the offices of the Terra Moretti holding. Modelled, as we do with clay, would be a better description, although perhaps the best image is that of a beehive. A world whose true value can be found here in this land, Franciacorta, excellent for wine-making and a pleasant place to live. A handful of hills, squeezed between Lake Iseo and Brescia valley, where the equilibrium of the landscape, its flowing lines, emphasise its uniqueness. A uniqueness that can be preserved only through attention to detail and great imagination. With these two resources on hand, the dedication needed to manage a vineyard becomes easy, natural.

This is how it was for those that dreamed of returning to the land. Today, if these bubbles are able to compete with champagne, it is because the goal of those long hours of work in the cellar was to obtain an “absolute taste”, that desired perfection that originates from the farsightedness of doing and redoing, cross-referencing data of previous harvests, using manual techniques, calibrating equipment to achieve the best performance possible. The objective is to reach the utmost objective quality every day, gauged on an immediately recognisable taste, character and personality. Another reason why Bellavista has become a literary prize.

About 190 hectares spread over ten municipalities of Franciacorta with a total of 107 plots of land, which correspond to one hundred and seven vineyards, created, loved and recognised by name. Together they produce 1,400,000 bottles.

Much, if not everything, depends on the hands: the hands that harvest the grapes, that perform the remuage, rotating the bottle by 1/8 of a turn for 4 weeks, the hands that perform the disgorging of the Vittorio Moretti Reserve.

It is not one harvest, but separate harvests depending on the exposure of the vineyard. Each press load is squeezed five times to obtain the corresponding number of must fractions. Only the first three presses are used to produce the Franciacorta. And then 1,500 piecès, small 228 litre barrels are used to ferment the must: the youngest are 7 years old, the oldest over twenty. Each year, Bellavista places around 100 variations in its cellar, the raw material from which the great cuvees are made.

Lastly, a rather special place with a history that dates back five centuries, on the foothills of Mount Orfano, between Franciacorta and the Brescia valley. Here there is an ancient vineyard, at the feet of the convent, which today, following tradition, produces a pure Chardonnay, the Convento Ss. Annunciata. The must is fermented in small barrels for 12 months and the wine, bottled the second spring following the harvest, rests in the bottle for another year. There are not many wines that succeed in conveying the essence of a place, bringing back time and landscape through sensations. Here, at the foot of a long-shaped hill where Mediterranean flora has found a place to grow.

Since 2004, Bellavista has been a partner and official supplier to the Teatro alla Scala.