Question about an Italian Wine

[tomstevenson]

Sorry, but I've only just seen this. Ca'del Bosco is one of THE top estates of Franciacorta, which although the wine in question is red, happens to be the only sparkling wine appellation in Italy that must be made by the methode champenoise. It is also the best and most compact area for sparkling wine in Italy, and Ca'de Bosco's Cuvee Annamaria Clementi is the country's best sparkling wine by a long chalk. Franciacorta is a DOCG and can only be sparkling. The still wines of Franciacorta are known as Terre di Franciacorta, which is a DOC, but there is a movement by all those in the area to restrict any mention of Franciacorta to classic sparkling wine, to make it synonymous with the style. A group of the most serious producers, with Ca'del Bosco being one, of course, want the still wines of the area to adopt the name Sebino, which is Latin for Lake Iseo, the vast body of water that influences Franciacorta's climate, thus Rosso del Sebino is effectively a Terre di Franciacorta. I was with Maurizio Zanella at Ca'del Bosco at the end of May and tasted amongst many other wines the 1995 Rosso del Sebino and it was very good indeed. It's a Cabernet-based red. He also does a lovely Chardonnay (later vintages are best, not only because they're nicer in their youth, but also because this style is being made with more finesse each year and this has really peaked in the late-1990s) and a sublime Pinot Noir (still Pinot in Franciacorta is potentially very exciting). I cannot comment on how much Lombardy wines in general or Ca'del Bosco cost in the USA, but I can say that these wines are not inexpensive in Italy and those parts of Europe where they know the wines of Franciacorta.