Sipping on a glass of Franciacorta, Italy’s most popular traditional method sparkling wine, one word immediately springs to mind – ‘balance’. The balance between the concentrated, fresh fruit flavours and the bright, crisp acidity has made Franciacorta a favourite with sommeliers in fine dining restaurants throughout the world.
Other projects have centred on protecting the health of the vines, such as disrupting the mating of vine moths using sustainable methods and monitoring primary downy mildew infections. With help from scientists in tracking the biological cycles of pests and other threats to the vineyards over time, farmers are now able to stay one-step ahead of their adversaries, spraying only when needed in order to minimise their use of pesticides.
Taken together, those sustainability projects have helped growers to reduce their fertiliser use while also improving their soil health. Cover crops have also played a key role, by not only helping to return nutrients to the soil but also by helping to prevent erosion from the rain.
Franciacorta
Balance in the glass and in the vineyard
Projects to promote sustainability
In Franciacorta, vineyard biodiversity is key – from research to production. A research project launched in 2014 found organic farming helps arthropods, tiny creatures that live in the soil and are seen as an indicator of a healthy environment. That research was published in two peer-reviewed scientific papers, helping other farmers to follow in Franciacorta’s footsteps.
The care and attention paid by farmers in their vineyards is matched by the skill and precision of the winemakers in their wineries. The second fermentation that naturally adds the bubbles takes place inside the bottle, with the sparkling wine then ageing for a minimum of 18 months.
That attention to detail in both the vineyard and the winery is reflected in the finished wine. Healthy land produces healthy grapes, which ultimately leads to very satisfied fans of Franciacorta’s sparkling wines.
Attention to detail
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Lying in Northern Italy’s Great Lakes region, Franciacorta’s farmers are walking the walk as well as talking the talk when it comes to sustainability.
The balance that wine lovers enjoy in their glasses is an echo of the balance that farmers strike in their vineyards. Growers not only ask themselves about the immediate impact of any action they take in their fields, but also about the longer-term impact in the future.
That’s because sustainability starts with caring for the land. Nestled at the foot of Lake Iseo in Northern Italy’s Lombardy region, Franciacorta’s landscape was shaped by the retreating glaciers during the last ice age, leaving behind a mix of soils rich in sand and silt, along with stones to provide further drainage. Protecting such a special land is crucial to maintaining the wine’s high quality.
For more than a decade, the Franciacorta consortium that cares for the region has run a series of projects to promote sustainability and support biodiversity, the variety of life that stems from healthy soils and land. Some of those projects have focused on getting the basics right, such as setting common regulations for the sustainable use of crop protection products, and the introduction of Ita.ca, Italy’s first carbon footprint measurement tool.
Two-thirds of the region’s vineyards are either already certified as organic or are working towards that goal. Franciacorta is now one of the regions with the highest proportion of organic vineyards on the planet.
The balance that wine lovers enjoy in their glasses is an echo of the balance that farmers strike in their vineyards.
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The care and attention paid by farmers in their vineyards is matched by the skill and precision
of the winemakers in their wineries.
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