Questo vino
Vineyard and terroir
The Chardonnay grows in the 4.14 ha Uccellanda vineyard, on one of the brightest and sunniest slopes of Terre di Franciacorta in Lombardy, at 300 metres above sea level. The soils range from carbonate-rich sandy loam to deep, highly fertile clay-limestone.
Franciacorta is a small, densely hilly area bordered by the Oglio River, the Alpine foothills, Lake Iseo and the Brescia–Bergamo motorway.
Vinification
The grapes are harvested at optimal ripeness. Following an old, traditional method, the juice ferments in small 228-litre oak barrels.
Ageing
The wine spends 12 months in oak barrels and is bottled in the second spring after harvest. It then rests for a further six months in the winery’s cellars before release.
Tasting profile
Elegant.
Label / history
One explanation for the name Franciacorta traces it to a religious order that lived in the area between the 11th and 13th centuries. The monks called their lands “curtes francae,” meaning “tax-exempt territory,” because they were exempt from Brescia’s taxation laws.
An alternative account relates the name to Charlemagne, King of France in the mid-8th century. Before a military campaign against the Lombards, he promised to return in time for Saint Dionigi’s Day. When the feast day found him near Rodengo-Saiano, he proclaimed the area a “miniature France”—Franciacorta—to keep his word.
