Also this year the Franciacorta’s full immersion of almost 240 bottles of sparkling wine was challenging but very interesting. More challenging than last year’s edition, as there were about thirty more samples to assess. But everything in Franciacorta seems to be looking up. The vineyard surface has expanded by 211 hectares in one year (from 2006 to 2007). The total of the bottles produced grew by a good 30% in the same period (we reached the 8600000 bottles), and the willingness of the producers to improve and being optimistic about the future grew even more rapidly than that. On the latter I have my personal views. The vineyard surface of the area has more than doubled from 2001 (when it accounted for 1016 hectares). And in the years before 2001 many hectares were planted too. The reality of the situation is then, that the vast majority of the vineyards are less than 10 years old. This fact can be seen as good or bad news, depending on the point of view. It’s all good news if you think that the producers (with such young vineyards) managed to release very good product and to sell them without difficulties. On the other hand though, this steady growth of the vineyard surface (and of the number of bottles produced, of the cellars, of the investments, of the expectations) should be more carefully monitored. But at present still no one is talking of a plateau quota of the Franciacorta vineyard or of a stop to the planting. Someone speaks of a target in terms of number of bottles produced, to be reached in not too long: 20 millions!!!! Personally I think that someone should at the least start to think of some form of limitation. The risk here is to end up in the middle of a market crisis with endless planted hectares and millions of unsold bottles in the cellars. I sincerely hope to be totally wrong here and that my fears are completely unfounded, but to see grapevines planted in spots more suited to corn is certainly not encouraging.
Let’s come now to the wines. As usual, the results of the tastings will be published in a few days, and now it’s the time for some general considerations. Finally it seems that the dosages in the area are coming back to a more human dimension, and that’s a very positive sign indeed. Even though not all the producers lowered the sugar content in their liqueur d’expedition, compared to last year the situation seems to be improving sensibly. What is not improving is the situation of the non-vintage Bruts, that appeared to be slightly less attractive than last year. Not only they lack in complexity, but also in aromas. Much better are the non-vintage Satens (compared to last year’s editions): the were very pleasant, fresh, stimulating and with quite interesting aromatics. Moving on to the vintage wines things change, and the average quality goes up quite a bit, leading to those amazing peaks the Franciacorta is able to deliver. Pas Dosé and Extra Brut wines are always a sort of niche production (around the 10-15% of the total), but I’d love to see more of these wines produced, as they are the ones in which you “see” more the expression of the vineyard. Every year these wines hold some good surprises for you. If we’d have to summarize we’d say that (comparing to last year) the increase in the number of estates and in the number of bottles produced did not drive down the average quality. Unfortunately though, to prove wrong what we just said are the Franciacorta Rosé. Dear producers, I know they are quite fashionable, that they sell themselves and that your experience with these wines does not date back centuries, but before releasing some of these wines it would be better to have a serious think about it. You jeopardize the good name of the whole DOC! Many of these releases succeeded in the not easy task of annihilating the aromas of the Chardonnay and of the Pinot Blanc, but without favoring the aromas of the Pinot Noir. The latter can’t even manage to impart that body and structure that a rosé should have, given that it is added in microscopic percentages to the final blend. High dosages and improbable colors complete a picture that the Franciacorta does not really deserve.