Bellavista Winery - Franciacorta

Franciacorta, a particular name to indicate an area in northern Italy famous all over the world for its excellent wines.
 You have to imagine the Franciacorta as a set of many variables, 140 for precision, each of which has its soil and its microclimate and each variety will give a different wine. 
The climate is excellent for the sparkling wine as it is subalpine: the cold winds coming from the north meet the warm winds that come from the south and provide 2-3 degrees less than the neighboring cities.
To preserve this gift of nature, these vineyards are first harvested and then fermented individually.
The recent history saw Guido Berlucchi with his oenologist Franco Ziliani go together to France in 1961 to study the classic method to bring it to Franciacorta where there were many small families who cultivated vines.
Slowly, other entrepreneurs decided to invest in Franciacorta and in 1977 Vittorio Moretti founded Bellavista and built on those land both his home and the family business.
From 1981 the production and collaboration with Oenologist Matteo Vezzola begun and he won 3 times the award of Best Italian oenologist and he has also been awarded among the 5 best spumantists in the world.
In 1990 the Consorzio Vini Franciacorta was founded, an important step because it establishes the Union and the collaboration between all the wineries
In 1995 the Franciacorta DOCG was born.
In 2002 Franciacorta has been compared to the champaigne for the quality level for the first time, and the ‘Franciacorta method' was born: it combines the classical method with the Franciacorta disciplinary.
 
The exterior of Bellavista is dominated by a large terrace that overlooks the expanses of vineyards and it is home to the famous swing.
The interiors are furnished with De Padova design, a very elegant style and absolutely in harmony with the ample and luminous structure that welcomes visitors.

​Collected in elegant wooden niches you can also admire some of the most important bottles that distinguish the company.

​The visit is articulated along the cellars, first between the steel barrels and then between the wooden barrels and step by step the guide tells the visitor every single stage in the production of these magical bubbles, from the harvest in the vineyard until the appearance of the bottle with its characteristic shape.

Then the tasting part.
My visit was provided with the tasting of two bottles.

Bellavista Alma Gran Cuvee.
Pinot Nero 22%, Chardonnay 77%, Pinot Bianco 1%.
As they define it in Bellavista, since 1977 it is the maximum expression of a project that has set as a goal the search for the pure essence of harmony.
Born from the skilful union of about 60 of the 120 selections of harvest obtained in the cellar. About 100 selections come from the same harvest and are carefully identified in 107 parcels distributed in 10 different municipalities of Franciacorta ("horizontal assembly"). To this vast patrimony of olfactory and buds variants, the perfumes and flavours of particular "reserve wines" from different vintages ("vertical assembly") are added. A unique cuvée, which, with its elegant complexity, represents the most intact and often mysterious soul of Franciacorta.
Straw yellow with greenish reflections. The perlage is fine and continuous, with abundant and persistent crown. The nose has a wide scent and embraces shades of sweet and slightly ripe fruit with subtle hints of vegetables and vanilla. In the mouth it is sapid and complete, fresh and vibrant with a return of the notes perceived to the nose. The finish is long, elegant and harmonious.

​Bellavista Extra Brut Riserva DOCG Vittorio Moretti 2011
Chardonnay 58%, Pinot Noir 42%.
The "Vittorio Moretti" represents, in the rare vintes in which it is produced, one of the highest peaks that Franciacorta is able to express. It is an assemblage of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, in equal parts, never available before seven years from the harvest.. Vineyards that give different characteristics and that lead to a unique sparkling wine for aromatic completeness, elegance and personality.
Intense straw yellow, with a very fine and persistent perlage. The nose expresses all the elegance of which only Bellavista is able thanks to hints of ripe fruit, peach and apricot, which immediately leave room for citrus and candied notes, honey, bread crust, small pastry. In the mouth it is fresh, intense, wide, enveloping, fluffy. Harmonic, traced by a luminous acidity and a very incisive freshness, it closes with the finale of the big ones, very long.