Bellavista Franciacorta Alma Gran Cuvee Brut

Cellar for up to 7 years. Serve chilled. Bellavista means “beautiful view” in Italian in honour of the estate’s stunning setting in a natural amphitheatre in the western zone of the Franciacorta appellation. The estate was founded in the 1970s by Vittorio Moretti with the first vintage coming in 1979. Vittorio had the good fortune to meet up-and-coming young winemaker Mattia Vezzola in 1981. The two joined forces to turn Bellavista into Italy’s finest producer of sparkling wines with over 200 hectares of prime vineyards. The natural amphitheatre on the estate was carved out by an ancient glacier which has left well-draining stony soils ideally suited to the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay varieties used to make top quality Franciacorta. This bottling is primarily composed of Chardonnay along with a much smaller proportion of Pinot Noir and a drop of Pinot Blanc. Each parcel is vinified separately with 15% of the grapes vinified and then matured in oak barrels for 7 months. The wine is then blended with reserve wines from up to nine previous vintages before the secondary fermentation is carried out in the bottle. The wine is then left to age on the lees for two and a half years. This lengthy maturation process produces an opulent, complex sparkling wine with ample hints of brioche, fresh pastry and biscuit mingling with the tropical fruit and stone fruit notes from the grapes.

Price: £32.74 from 8wines UK