Ferghettina Franciacorta Brut NV, Lombardy

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.

The Gatti family manage 120 hectares of vineyards in six localities within the DOC. The alcoholic fermentation is carried out in stainless steel tank at controlled temperature between 16 and 18°C with selected yeast. Tirage is done in spring time of the following year, the wine spends 24 month ageing on the lees. At disgorgement 7 grams/litre of sugar is added.

An exuberant, confident and bright style – lively and very approachable with a citrus fruits and golden apple character which is at the same time both incisive yet quite gentle.

Try with cold spiny or rock lobster tails with mayonnaise (Parisienne style), flambéed apricots, sea scallops and leek tart or cooked with cream!