Franciacorta

Franciacorta is a wine region in Lombardy, northern Italy, just south of Lake Iseo. It is the closest thing to real Champagne that Italy has to offer. Made in the Champagne method (2^nd fermentation in the bottle), it is created today from Chardonnay (85%), Pinot Nero (10%) and Pinot Bianco (5%) and has D.O.C.G. status, the highest level of Italian wine classification. All Franciacorta is aged on its lees (dead yeast, pulp, seeds, skin fragments and any other insoluble particles): 18 months for non-vintage and 30 months for vintage wines, and cannot be released for an additional 7 months afterwards. This lees aging rounds out the wine and adds complexity. Too bad you don’t see much of it in North America. It’s fabulous.