Ca' Del Bosco Annamaria Clementi 2014 [free]
Tasting Franciacorta nobility with Maurizio Zanella
Welcome, bubbleheads.
There aren’t that many true Prestige wines in the wider world of sparkling wine. Simply making one and slapping on a price tag doesn’t really cut it; it takes decades to establish the sort of reputation that enables wines from outside a certain French wine region to command three-figure prices year after year.
Italy has two well-known aristocrats: Ferrari’s Giulio Ferrari from Trentino and Ca’ Del Bosco’s top Franciacorta, Annamaria Clementi. Yes, there are other pricy sparklers, but none that have the visibility (or, to be frank, the availability) outside Italy.
I won’t take you through the whole backstory here (I’m actually going on a trip to Franciacorta later this year, so do subscribe….
…if you want to keep up to date with that, learn more about Franciacorta and discover a few lesser-known gems), but here are a few headlines:
76% Chardonnay from 14 vineyards averaging 37 years of age in Erbusco, Adro, Corte Franca, Iseo and Passirano
9% Pinot Bianco from Passirano
15% Pinot Nero from Erbusco, Iseo and Passirano
The vintage wasn’t easy in Franciacorta; early budburst and then a cool, rainy summer which saw 400mm of rain in July and August (a contrast to the drought conditions which are increasingly forcing growers to apply for special derogations to irrigate their vines, something founder Maurizio Zanella said he wanted to avoid if possible). Harvest started on August the 16th*. Yields were 7800 kg per hectare, which has been listed as 3,040 litres of wine - an extraction rate of just 39% for this cuvée.
Grapes are washed in the ‘berry spa’ to remove impurities (a Ca’ Del Bosco speciality)
Fermentation in minimum 3-year old small casks
8 years ageing on lees
‘vacuum disgorgement’ - another unique Ca’ Del Bosco process - means no SO2 is added. It’s a bit like the goal of ‘jetting’ used frequently to regulate oxygen ingress and ensure freshness.
All the Ca’ Del Bosco wines are made with a fairly obsessive fixation on transparency and detail. Oxidation at any stage, from in-barrel to disgorgement, is zealously fought off. My sense with these wines has always been that the energy of ultra-protective winemaking works like a brilliant bit of tailoring for Franciacorta’s natural propensity to weight and sunniness. The warm Italian welcome is there, but it comes in an impeccable suit, holding itself with just a trace of stiffness. The combination works.
Annamaria Clementi 2014
Hugely impressive. Grilled apricots and white peaches, grapefruit syrup, mandarin and toasted nuts, a sort of weightless fruitiness behind the clean, creamy richness. There’s always a spot of alchemy in AMC when it comes to oak - it just doesn’t taste like a 100% oak-fermented sparkling wine, somehow. The barrel work just slides into the fruit without any drama (in fact the oak usage across the vintage range is seriously refined). Such a super-smooth mousse here, too, the texture truly luxuriously-silky, the flavours crystal-clear. It doesn’t taste like a zero-dosage wine, either. No bumps in the road.
It’s a wine all serious bubbleheads need to get on their radar. It’s good to go, although I would certainly consider giving it two years in the cellar for starters.
The Portfolio
Maurizio Zanella speaking in London last week.
The current NV mainstay, Cuvée Prestige, was on fine form, the 2020 base more elegant than the last I tasted (2018 base). It’s one of those big, knobbly, glorious Italian lemons in a glass. Well, it’s more than that, but perhaps that's a good place to start. I enjoyed the Vintage Collection Extra Brut 2018 more than the Vintage Collection Dosage Zéro, which is probably more down to the ingredients than the dosage itself. A little more Pinot Noir in the Extra Brut, a little more structure and length, a slightly nimbler balance with some delicacy of honeysuckle and citrus peel. It’s has a little edgy streak, sure. But it’s a beautifully composed, ripe, complete wine.
The Vintage Collection Satèn 2018 is a benchmark Satèn (Franciacorta’s unique term for lower-pressure Blanc de Blancs), with 15% Pinot Bianco adding a fleshy, aromatic twist (and a special bitterness according to Zanella). Fresh apricot, pineapple and zest, tuned with a lovely pithy focus. The acidity is sitting back in this vintage, but the soft, creamy mousse means the sensation is more of gentleness than lack of focus.
It completed fine set of wines. The Vintage Collection Extra Brut is my choice if AMC is a bit of a stretch ( I can only find AMC by single bottles in the UK at Hedonism wines for £146 - there are only around 300 bottles in the UK, I’m told). The Vintage Collection Extra Brut is is £344 per case of six at Cru World, or around £60 per bottle elsewhere. A good buy.
The wines are represented by Berkmann Wine Cellars in the UK.
*I always find it amazing to think of Pinot Noir being harvested in Franciacorta as English growers start looking for the very first signs of colour in their grapes; very much two ends of the spectrum for classic sparkling wines.