Bellavista Franciacorta

Country: Lombardy - Italy

Region: Lombardy


This estate makes Italy’s finest sparkling wines from its 190 hectares of vineyard situated in the western part of the Franciacorta zone in a natural amphitheatre. The glacial soil is full of stones, and provides the ideal environment for the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes used in the production of their Franciacorta.

The property was founded when Vittorio Moretti bought the hill called ‘Bellavista’, because of its stunning view, in the early 1970s. His grandfather had farmed in Franciacorta, where Moretti was born, and after making his money in construction he returned to buy this superb site. His first vintage in 1979 was made with the idea of having his own wine to drink with friends. In 1981,however, he met a young winemaker called Mattia Vezzola, who at the time was selling winery equipment. Vezzola impressed Moretti with his passion and knowledge, while Vezzola was assured that Moretti was interested only in quality.

From this meeting was born the partnership that has transformed Bellavista into Italy’s leading producer of quality sparkling wine. They take as their model Roederer Champagne, and have an approach to production that is astonishing in the way it cuts no corners. They start in the vineyard, where intervention is minimal and the approach is sustainable (lotta integrata). The base wine is made from 103 different parcels. Decisions regarding malolactic fermentation are made depending on the vintage. Forty percent of their wines are vinified in barrique, the rest in stainless steel. No new oak is used for their fizz and the wine spends 8-10 months in barrel.

In the May following the vintage, they do tastings of all the base wines to compile the blend. The wine is then bottled – there is no decanting - all halves, magnums and large bottles undergo the second fermentation in bottle. They have a team of 5 riddlers, as all the remuage is done by hand - they’ve tried giro pallets but prefer the results of hand riddling. The wines are aged on lees for a minimum of 3 years, but they’re slowly increasing this to 4 years. The reserve wine used after disgorging is an average of 6 years old, while the dosage, which varies from year to year, is about 8 grams per litre for the Cuvée, 7 grams for the Gran Cuvée and 3 grams for the other wines.

Having gone to all this effort, Moretti wanted to ensure the bottle looked good, so he had his own design produced by the Murano glass factory in Venice. It is a work of art.

The wines are fine, elegant and beautifully balanced. The Cuvée Brut is a blend of 28% Pinot Noir and 72% Chardonnay.  The Satèn is a Blanc de Blancs, while the Rosé is made from 52% Chardonnay and 48% Pinot Noir. 

Bellavista Franciacorta Collection


Alma Franciacorta Cuvèe Brut NV Price € 40.00

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The Alma Bellavista Cuvée Brut - to which we dedicate our utmost care and attention – is undoubtedly the Franciacorta that we ask, in terms of quality and style, to act as an ambassador for the true worth of our area. It derives from the combination of at least 30 selections of wine: these come from more than 100 plots of land, cultivated in 10 different communes of the Franciacorta appellation. A significant proportion of the wines from which it is made up ferments and matures for seven months in small oak barrels. To this great amalgam of olfactory and gustatory variants we add the scents and flavours of the “reserve wines”, coming from between 6 and 9 earlier vintages. The precious contribution of these “reserve wines” serves to fine-tune Bellavista‟s consistent, signature style and, especially, gives our Franciacorta Cuvée Brut its inimitable appeal and finesse.

Sensory features: It has a pale, lively and decidedly persistent mousse; its perlage is fine and continuous. Its colour is yellow, with marked greenish reflections. The bouquet is ample and inviting, with rich notes of white flowers and ripe decana pears, along with subtle hints of chlorophyll and vanilla. The flavour echoes the sensations on the nose, and the aftertaste is tangy and satisfying. Its depth and remarkable harmony are evident in its splendid elegance and balance.

Grape Variety: 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Nero and Pinot Bianco.

Vineyards

Bellavista owns 190 hectares of vines in 10 communes within the Franciacorta DOCG. The vineyards have some of the best exposure, character and expressive potential in the area.  From these vineyards, they produce 103 different parcels of wine.  

Vinification

Made in the ‘traditional method‘, the different parcels of wine are all vinified separately. 15% of the wines used in the blend are fermented and then matured for seven months in small oak barrels. These wines are then blended with the “reserve wines”, which come from between six and nine earlier vintages. Once blended, the wine is bottled and the second fermentation takes place in bottle.  It is then left to age on the lees for two and a half years before release. The contribution of the reserve wines ensures Bellavista’s consistent, signature style in every bottle.

Serve at temperature of 6 °C (43 °F).

Alcohol content: 12.5%

Bottle size :375ml, 750ml & 1.5ltr

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Rose Franciacorta Gran Cuvée Brut 2009 Price € 55.70

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Sensory features: Delicate shades of pink are studded with tight and persistent streams of bubbles. The nose opens with intense white peach that mellows into wild strawberries, golden apple, rosehip and a hint of toast. On the palate, the wine is dry with well balanced, fresh acidity. An elegant background of blackcurrant and sweet almond flavours linger on the finish.

Grape Variety: 62% Chardonnay & 38% Pinot Noir

Vintage information

A wet winter was followed by a good start to the growing season but a very hot August. A little rainfall in late August helped the vines to recover.  Fruit for the Rosé was harvested in late August/early September. 

Vinification

The Franciacorta Rosé Brut is a special cuvée of limited production, a blend of at least 30 of the best parcels from the Bellavista vineyards, some of which are fermented and matured in small oak barrels. The wine is made partially from red grapes in submerged cap maceration, where the must is in contact with the Pinot Noir skins until fermentation, giving the wine a delicate colour.

Vineyards

Bellavista has chosen 190 hectares of vines in 10 communes within the Franciacorta DOCG. The vineyards have some of the best exposure, character and expressive potential in the area. This has given rise to 107 small crus that express the intrinsic personality of the land and the subtle nuances of its character and personality. 

Serve at temperature of 6 °C (43 °F).

Alcohol content: 12.5%

Bottle size:750 ml

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Satèn Franciacorta Gran Cuvée Brut 2009 Price € 54.60

Saten

Sensory features: Straw yellow with a sage hue with fine, persistent and vibrant pearlescent bubbles. The complex bouquet has intense aromas of flowers with peach, citrus, honey and hazelnut notes. On the palate, the wine is elegant, refined and soft, with a freshness and balance that emphasise the excellent quality of the fruit. Satèn will age well for at least five years from the vintage.

Vineyards

Bellavista owns 200 hectares of vines across 10 communes within the Franciacorta DOCG. Their vineyards enjoy some of the best sites in the area with excellent exposure and soil types and produce fruit with character and great expressive potential. From these vineyards, Bellavista produce 103 different parcels of wine, the result of very rigorous fruit selection.  For the Saten, fruit is taken from the older, south facing vineyards on the hillsides of the commune of Erbusco. 

Vinification

Made in the traditional method, 40% of the wines that make up the blend are fermented and matured for at least seven months in small oak barrels. The remainder of the blend is fermented in stainless steel vats.  Bottling took place in May 2010 and the wines were kept on lees for three and half years before disgorging and dosage.  Satèn is released to the market four years after vintage.

Vintage information

A wet winter was followed by a good start to the growing season but a very hot August. A little rainfall in late August helped the vines to recover.  Fruit for the Saten was harvested in late August / early September. 

Grape Variety: 100% Chardonnay.

Serve at temperature of 6 °C (43 °F).

Alcohol content: 12.5%

Bottle size : 750 ml

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Pas Operè Franciacorta Price € 58.60

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Sensory features: Bellavista Pas Dose shows a straw-yellow colour with golden nuances, the perlage of this Franciacorta is very fine and elegant, on the nose notes of bread crust with citrus and hazelnut nuances are evident. On the mouth it is fresh with delicate bubbles which make this wine very pleasant. It has an extremely savoury and long finish.

Bellavista Pas Operè is made from the selection of the Chardonnay and Pinot Nero vineyards located on high hills and which are more than 30 years of age, facing south/south-east. For this reason these vineyards are able to deliver grapes that have reached a perfect level of aromatic ripeness and have also kept the freshness of their acidity, a very important feature for this type of product. Chardonnay and Pinot Nero grapes are hand-harvested in different times depending on the level of ripeness of the grapes. They are then brought to the winery for the pressing and the musts are divided in first and second selections, whose 50% ferments in white oak barriques and the remaining 50% in steel tanks. In the spring after the harvest, 40 selections of Chardonnay and Pinot Nero are blended in order to obtain the perfect balance between aromas and flavours and to create a great product. Before bottling, sugar and yeast are added into the wine which allow the second fermentation to take place and to create the famous bubbles. This process lasts about one month at a temperature of around 16°C which creates fine and delicate bubbles. Bottle ageing lasts 6 months during which the wine refines on the yeasts. Then disgorgement takes place, it means that the bottle is opened, refilled with the wine of the same vintage (as it is a 'millesimato') and then closed with the mushroom-shaped cork stopper. Afterwards the bottles are labelled and released on the market.

 

Best Served: Bellavista pas Opere is a wine with a distinctive taste as it is expected from this particular type of Franciacorta. Best pairing is with seafood crudités as starters or together with Japanese food, where the acidity of the wine is balanced with the fatness of the fish delivering a very pleasant effect. Excellent also with rich, hard and long-aged cheeses such as Castelmagno, Parmigiano Reggiano and Bagoss.
Ageing: In bottle for 6 years.
Alcohol: 12,5%
Shelf life: Excellent if consumed now and with an ageing potential of 10 years.
Grape varieties: 65% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot nero
Serving temperature: 10-12°C

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Nectar S.A. Franciacorta Demi Sec Price € 48.70

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This represents a concept of contemporary ancestrality. A production philosophy of the early 18th century meets avant-garde technology with the aim of revealing the sublime qualities of a totally natural harmony.

Sensory features: Bellavista Nectar has a pale and persistent mousse. Its perlage is extremely fine and continuous. Straw yellow in colour, it develops a slight golden tinge with age. Subtle and delicate green reflections. Rich in bouquet, it abounds with white candied fruit, flowers, sweets and honey fragrances. The flavour resembles the nose and is creamy, broad and extremely smooth, supported by a very discreet freshness that endows the wine with balance and persistence. 

Technical notes

This special Franciacorta Cuvée is produced in extremely limited quantities and is the expression of a purer, more natural and sensual Demi-sec product; perfectly in line with the wine-making philosophy behind its creation. 

It owes its mellow character to the creation of a dedicated cuvée. This special cuvée, developed according to the strictest Bellavista traditional methods, is produced using exclusively Chardonnay grapes, from at least 30 different vineyards located on high hillside plots with ideal south exposures. Over 30% of the fermentation takes place in small white oak casks. 

The production process used for this must is the result of specific research that has enabled us to achieve a unique and completely traditional sensorial profile. 

For both, bottle re-fermentation and the disgorging process, we use sugared must that is produced exclusively from our own selected grapes, which are dried on the plant and late harvested. 

Bellavista Nectar is matured for at least 4 years following the harvesting of the grapes, before being released on the market. 

Grape variety: 100% Chardonnay

Residual sugar: 38gr per litre

The Nectar Franciacorta Bellavista wine can be matched with dessert, bakery or with creamy cakes. It is extraordinary with Sicilian cannolo. It is also very good aperitive for special occasions. It has to be served at 6°c

Alcohol content: 12.5%

Bottle size: 750ml

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