EAT-Box Franciacorta, Guided Wine Tasting and Live Virtual Tour

Sparkling Franciacorta is Italy’s palate-pleasing answer to Champagne. 
Produced using the méthode champenoise, it is an elegant wine that is a celebration unto itself, an indispensable part of Italy’s most festive moments.
 
Born in the rolling vineyards of Brescia province (Lombardy), Franciacorta is a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and/or Pinot Blanc grapes that flourish in the mineral-rich soils left behind by the passage of glaciers. The area has an ideal climate for viniculture, stabilized by nearby Lake Iseo and the sheltering protection of the Alps. So good is Brescia’s terroir that wine has been made here since the 11th century – indeed the name Franciacorta references the area’s medieval winemaking Benedictine monks (Frankish court). Little more than 50 years ago, winemakers began experimenting with sparkling wines, and lo and behold, a DOC was granted, soon to be upgraded to Italy’s highest wine classification, a DOCG (Denomination of Controlled and Guaranteed Origin). Compared to Champagne’s 350 year history, Franciacorta is a baby, but what a precious bundle – a meticulously produced, very limited production wine with only 10% exported!
 
Through EATales, get to know Franciacorta from grape to glass in a livestream with Gualberto Ricci Curbastro owner of the family-owned and visually stunning Azienda Agricola Gualberto Ricci Curbastro.
He’ll take you on a friendly tour of his estate’s organic vineyards, production facilities and deep cellars, explaining the “metodo classico” and how his enhanced practices (complementary plantings, gentle grape handling, soil protection, no chemicals, etc.) have earned his winery a top sustainability certification. He’ll describe Franciacorta’s double fermentation process, first in steel vats or oak barrels and then in the bottle, and explain how long cellaring (from 18 up to 60 months) brings his vintage and non-vintage wines to bold perfection. He also makes vineyard-designated DOC Curtefranca, still wines that receive rave reviews in Europe.
 
Gualberto as your proud host, you’ll taste the acidity, depth, nuance and personalities of three different Ricci Curbastro wines, feeling as if you were actually there, looking beyond your glass out to the vineyards and, off in the distance, to the snow-capped Alps.