Imagine some sort of exquisite mushroom pastry dish – a mille feuille, maybe, of deeply savoury porcini mushrooms, crisp buttery puff pastry, a little thyme, white pepper and perhaps a hazelnut infused cream sauce… Imagine if someone could somehow capture the essence of all those flavour components and then add a soupcon of that to a sparkling wine. It might turn out something like this exceptionally fine Franciacorta from our friends at Ferghettina – showing lovely development from time in bottle, this rich and elegant wine nevertheless remains as fresh as a daisy.
Production
The Gatti family manage 120 hectares of vineyards in six localities within the DOC. Matured for six years in bottle on the lees.
Ferghettina Franciacorta Extra Brut 2016 (6 bottles case)
Vivino ratings
Tasting notes
Immediately impressive! The wine has a beautiful pale-mid golden colour and a maelstrom of tiny bubbles. The long lees ageing gives it an aristocratic, serious and very refined quality. A nose of apples and toasty notes from yeast lees contact. The palate has more apple, with lemon, brioche and toast. A well balanced and refreshing finish. Big flavours, but also very fresh with great acidity and just perfect 'mousse'.
Food match
Try this served with a traditional dish from the region such as tench, or similar freshwater fish, cooked in cinammon, nutmeg and cloves and served with polenta. Alternatively, this wine is a great match for savoury dishes such as lasagne with salami.
Info
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ABV
12.5%
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CASE/BOTTLE SIZE
6 x 75cl
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REGION/COUNTRY
LOMBARDIA, ITALY
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GRAPE
CHARDONNAY 80%, PINOT NERO 20%
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FEATURES
VEGETARIAN, VEGAN, SUSTAINABLE, SPARKLING
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CLOSURE
CORK
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WINEMAKER
ROBERTO GATTI
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APPELLATION
DOCG FRANCIACORTA
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ALLERGEN INFO
CONTAINS SULPHITES AND NO OTHER ALLERGENS
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Meet the producer
Italian sparkling wine is not all about Prosecco, as leading Franciacorta producer Ferghettina has proved time and time again.
Ferghettina is a family winery - established in 1991 by Roberto Gatti, and run with his wife Andreina, and their children Laura and Matteo. Starting with just 3-4ha of vineyard and a small production of Franciacorta Brut, Ferghettina has now grown to become one of the finest Franciacorta wineries.
Situated in the southern half of Lombardy on the edge of the town of Adro, just south of Lake Iseo, the majority of plantings are Chardonnay (approx. 70%) along with Pinot Noir (and just 4ha of Pinot Blanc for their still wines). They now have 200ha of vineyard across 11 different villages, mostly at 250-300m altitude. Each vineyard confers a unique character on the resulting base wine, giving Roberto a broad spectrum of styles to blend for each cuvée. It is this skilful blending, meticulous attention to detail and long bottle maturation that give Ferghettina's wines great finesse and individuality.
Matteo designed the eye-catching, square-based bottle used for Milledi and Rosé Brut. First used for the 2007 vintage (released in 2011), the triangular, flattened sides provide a surface area around two and a half times greater than that of a standard bottle, giving more lees-to-wine contact and therefore greater complexity.