When it comes to Franciacorta, the mind immediately runs to the bubbles that made this Brescia superficie famous durante the world. However, few know that among the rows, next to Chardonnay, Pinot Da lutto and Pinot Lattescente, there is an ancient variety that is experiencing a second life. His name is Erbamat and the Guido Berlucchi cellar, led by the Ziliani family, has dedicated fifteen years of studies and experiments. A silent but constant path, which today allows you to to this grape voto negativo longer as a large curiosity, but as a concrete resource for the future of the name.
An ancient, difficult and precious grape variety that looks forward
Erbamat is not a name invented for a marketing operation. Its traces sink over the centuries, linked to the Brescia viticulture and the peasant history of these hills. An autochthonous grape variety at all easy to manage, it is vigorous, requires long pruning, characterized by tight bunches and small berries that make it sensitive to rot and burns. The subtle peel is a challenge durante rainy vintages, as demonstrated durante 2025, when the harvest 5 September had to be anticipated to prevent the rains at the end of August would swell the berries excessively. Its main dowry is acidity, also stable durante hot vintages, together with a natural ability not to accumulate excess sugars, and thin aromas that leave room for the territory and the cellar work. Characteristics that today appear precious, durante a context marked by climate change, where the summers become warmer and the maturation increasingly anticipated, the Erbamat represents a concrete and “climatically sustainable” response: it maintains freshness, lowers the alcoholic degree and returns thesis, linear wines, capable of long evolutions.
The bet of the Ziliani family
Yet, until a few years indicatore, nobody would have bet. Sopra the agricultural registers it appeared as an almost forgotten variety, relegated to old scattered rows, without a role recognized durante wine productions, of quality ora not. But durante 2011 Berlucchi launched the Erbamat project.
Sopra those years the Franciacorta Consortium was already taking its first steps to recover this grape variety, but it was the Ziliani family, with Arturo at the forefront, who wanted to go beyond simple experimentation. The opinione was not to understand if Erbamat could give “good” wines durante a generic sense, but if it could prove useful to the name, an extra piece to strengthen identity and luce climatic challenges.
Not everyone was convinced. At the beginning, Berlucchi’s same technical team looked at the project with skepticism. But the cellar philosophy has always been to experiment, accepting the risk of failing. “As researchers durante the scientific field do – says Arturo Ziliani, CEO and technical director, driving Berlucchi together with the other two brothers Cristina and Paolo – we are looking for one thing and they find others. With Erbamat it is going right”. Sopra fifteen years of evidence, micro-vinseations, superinnesti and targeted plants, Berlucchi has accumulated a heritage of knowledge that today places it as a reference point for this grape variety.
Cittadella vineyard – Round trip mother field
The first phase of the project was almost laboratory. Sopra 2011, the first superinnesti Chardonnay plants durante collaboration with the Consortium durante the terraced portion of the Cittadella vineyard with gems recovered by old strains scattered durante the province of Brescia. Sopra 2015 the vineyard was created with the Agio with Barbatelle obtained from the first clones of the different types of Erbamat with the aim of observing genetic variability and identifying the most interesting biotypes. Sopra this experimental period, thanks also to the individual micro-vinifications, the Cuvée Perpétuelle was also born, a set of reserve wines that began with the 2012-2014 vintages, designed to enhance the evolutionary potential.
Sopra 2016 the decisive step arrived: the complete replanting of the Cittadella vineyard, two hectares durante Borgonato, behind Costruzione Lana, the historical residence of the family. Here, with massive selection and direct grafts American foot, Erbamat found a poor soil but suitable for containing its natural vigor. The castle is not just a vineyard. It is a place full of symbols, overlooking the Morenic hills, next to a church linked to the monastery of Santa Giulia and the remains of a medieval tower. Cultivating here the Erbamat anchored the project to a historical and cultural context, making it part of the memory of the territory. Sopra this phase (2016-2023) more exploratory, thanks also to the new hero vineyard made durante Camignone, this time with Barbatelle obtained from a clonal selection of the Cittadella vineyard, Berlucchi moved to a wider scale, accumulating bases and refinements, until he dared the first purity sparkling wines.
From 2024 onwards it entered the identity phase. Voto negativo longer just laboratory tests, but the awareness that Erbamat can really play a role durante the Franciacorta of the future. Sparkling it durante purity is voto negativo longer a heresy, but a possible interpretation, albeit still limited to pulling a few thousand bottles.
Six wines to tell a path
The heart of the experiment are the wines. Berlucchi has chosen to bottle and follow over time a series of purity shoots, identified by year of bold and not for thousandths. Next to these, there are the pre-placing Vin Clair and the Cuvée Perpétuelle.
Erbamat Tiraggio 2018
The first child of the project, coming from the Cittadella vineyard and harvest durante 2017. Sopra Cuvée, 85% of harvest centro and 15% reserve wines. After 75 months the yeasts, it is the only one with an extra brut dosage. Sopra the glass it presents itself with quaderno of white fruit and uvaspine, without indulging durante marked tertiarys. Acceso the palate it shows a surprising balance, with returns reminiscent of the pear Kaiser and the annurca apple. Freshness is the dominant figure, supported by a dynamic that never tires.
Erbamat Tiraggio 2019
A step forward durante the use of reserves, climbed to 20%. Harvest durante 2018 and remained 74 months the yeasts, blossomed à la volée for the occasion and not dosed. The nose is more shy, with vegetable calls and a mineral breath that recalls the lemon peel. Sopra the mouth the balsamic note and the freshness of peppermint draw a naked, almost austere sip, ennobled by a slight oxidation that accentuates its modernity. The absence of sugars, surprisingly, does not penalize drinkability.
Erbamat Tiraggio 2020
Vendemmmia 2019, 75% of harvest centro and 25% reserve cuvée, 62 months the yeasts and voto negativo dosage. Here the concentration is evident, already durante the loaded yellow color. Perfumes of Kumquat and Focaia stone aperto the scene, followed by yellow pulp fruit. The acid tension is marked but balanced, the momentum is vertical. The contribution of the Cuvée Perpétuelle emerges clearly, giving complexity without the need for long future refinements.
Erbamat Tiraggio 2021
Harvest 2020, 70% centro vintage and 30% reserve, 50 months yeasts. As the previous one still rests the yeasts and has been degraced and not dosed to evaluate its evolution. The favorable vintage gives a different profile: golden color, nose full of hay and exotic fruit, more citrus and savory mouth. It is the most readable and linear durante the series, with an acid tension that accompanies without jolts, making it enjoyable and complex at the same time.
Erbamat Pre-Tiraggio 2025 (Vin Clair)
The basic wine of the last harvest, 2024, assembled with a third of Cuvée Perpétuelle and a third of basic wine of the previous year. This is where the maturity of the project is grasped: a balance between immediacy, depth and continuity. Acidity is voto negativo longer only citrine blade, but integrated by structure and harmony. The entrance of the Heroi vineyard further enriches the profile. It is perhaps the square of the circle: a Vin Clair who already ala tells Berlucchi’s philosophy the herbamat.
Erbamat cuvée perpetual (2012–2024)
One of the pillars of the project is the Cuvée Perpétuelle. A tank of complexity that keeps past and future together, ready to merge with the harvest bases not only to add complexity to the assemblies but to represent the stylistic continuity of the project, a common thread that smoothes the hardness of the young herbamat and brings a stratification of memories into the glass. Every year it is renewed with a part of wine from the last harvest and stained ora wood, depending the characteristics of the last vintage. A liquid archive that today collects thirteen vintages, from 2012 to 2024, durante which elegance and finesse dominate, with a length that fades cedar quaderno.
A at the future
Today Berlucchi leads three hectares (which will soon reach just under 5 hectares) the overall eleven durante the Franciacorta eleven, equal to almost 30% of the total surface. The grape variety officially entered the disciplinary of Franciacorta durante 2017, with a maximum use of 10%, with the exception of Satèn, where only Chardonnay is still allowed. But the road traced by the Ziliani family lets you glimpse wider scenarios: one day we could see a Franciacorta from Erbamat durante purity the market, voto negativo longer just experimental. The strength of the project lies precisely durante its double value. Acceso the one hand, Erbamat represents a concrete agronomic resource to luce climatic challenges. Acceso the other, he strengthens the link of the name with his territorial identity, recovering a local grape variety and restoring dignity. Arturo Ziliani summarizes him as follows: “Our commitment to the erbamat is not only an oenological experimentation, but a concrete contribution to the collective growth of Franciacorta. We are convinced that investing durante this variety means investing durante the future of the territory”.
Berlucchi’s Erbamat project is voto negativo longer a laboratory gioco ora an operation of , but an act of vision. back to find that durante the past there is a key for the future, and today its experimental wines already speak clear language: freshness, longevity, elegance. The proverb says that “the neighbor’s grass is increasingly “. Sopra this case, the home grass – Erbamat, precisely – is not only , but it is always better.
The article The Berlucchi’s Erbamat is getting better and better comes from Vinonews24.
