Castello Bonomi, a sort of Franciacorta château, bases on the slopes of Monte Orfano, in an amazing natural amphitheater in the town of Coccaglio, surrounded by a centuries-old park. The 32 hectares of vineyards establish in actions up until they reach an elevation of 275 metres, still confined by dry stone walls going back to the mid-19th century, considered that in this land of abbeys and priories “exceptional black red wines and whites”.
Maybe likewise for this factor when the engineer Marino Bonomi, creator and previous owner of Castello Bonomi, together with his chef de cavern Luigi Bersini started to produce bubbles on Monte Orfano, they called him insane. However it is thanks to healthy insanity that in some cases terrific red wines are produced.
THE PINOT NOIR BET ON MONTE ORFANO
For everybody, Monte Orfano was a great location to produce just still gewurztraminers or at a lot of good red white wines, for them the chance to show the presence of a various Franciacorta. A sanctuary comprised of lots of little crus on a calcareous, milky, crumbly corporation abundant in mineral salts, various in structure, elevation, ventilation, direct exposure and temperature level variations, and where you can concentrate on something option to the normal Chardonnay.
For That Reason, amongst the very first in Franciacorta to concentrate on Pinot Noir, likewise due to a rather casual discovery by Luigi Bersini himself, who in 1986, less than a year after signing up with the business, in among his trips to deepen his understanding of the land, found an old deserted vineyard with vines of a specific Pinot Noir clone in the middle of a forest amongst ivy and wild shrubs and promoted its healing and usage.
THE ESTATE, THE VINEYARDS AND THE PRODUCTION
The Castello Bonomi estate takes its name from the Art Nouveau structure, developed at the end of the 19th century by the Brescian designer Antonio Tagliaferri, and considering that 2008 it has actually been handled by the Paladin household, the bros Carlo and Roberto Paladin, together with their particular children, Francesca and Martina.
The vineyards, divided into 39 various crus, are gathered and vinified independently, in order to boost, through micro-parcels, the qualities and identity of each strip of land. The yearly production is around 200 thousand bottles, the Brut Cuvée 22 is their welcome white wine without a vintage, followed by the different vintage Franciacortas, such as the Cruperdu Brut, which in especially beneficial years is improved with the Grande Annata edition, the Satèn, the Dose Zéro, the Rosé Brut and the Cuvée 1564 Brut Nature, which is identified by the existence of 10% Erbamat. There are 3 Lucrezia reserves, all additional brut: Etichetta Nera, Etichetta Bianca and Rosè. Closing the variety are the 3 Sebino IGP still red wines.
THE BIRTH OF LUCREZIA BLACK LABEL
Lucrezia’s cuvée was born in 1999 as a sort of very first experiment on the Franciacorta reserve that might be acquired with the Pinot Noir from Monte Orfano, without copying what was produced in Erbusco and its environments. At first it was combined with 30% Chardonnay, without malolactic fermentation and with the addition of just 2 grams/litre of sugars for the liqueur d’expédition, in order to make it long-lived and leave it as undamaged as possible. The name devotes it to Marino Bonomi’s very first granddaughter, in a sort of handing down of her grandpa’s enthusiasm for white wine to the brand-new generations, considered that the engineer’s boy, a teetotaler, had other interests.
Produced solely in terrific vintages and just from the longest-lived vineyards, it invests over 5 years on the yeasts. In 2004, Teacher Leonardo Valenti, among the most reliable names in viticultural research study, at his very first main harvest as expert to Castello Bonomi, offered the remarkable nature of the Pinot Noir because vintage, encouraged that of the 4000 bottles to be produced, over half must end up being the very first blanc de noir from the Franciacorta winery, particularly Lucrezia Etichetta Nera. History, nevertheless, reserves a surprise: in 2010, after more than 60 months of rest on the yeasts, throughout the tastings even Carlo and Roberto Paladin understood how remarkable that vintage had actually been, so together with the teacher and Luigi Bersini they chose to extend the improvement of a little batch of bottles, just 250 bottles and a couple of magnums.
TASTING NOTES
Franciacorta Riserva Additional Brut Lucrezia Etichetta Nera Docg 2004
Pure Pinot Noir grown in the earliest vineyards situated at 275 meters above water level. Just free-run needs to for the very first fermentation, the base white wine rests on its great lees a minimum of 8 months before secondary fermentation. Having actually been disgorged in September 2023, there were 220 months of aging on the yeasts.
Tasting it resembles scanning the most essential pages of the history and white wine library of Castello Bonomi. To the eye it is liquid gold. On the stylish and complicated nose, the fruity yellow pulp, the citrus notes, the balsamic herbs that return at the end and a practically invisible evolutionary note that is extremely well maintained and advises us of its twenty years. A glass that is not exhausted, you require to understand that area and those soils well to comprehend how far you can opt for this traditional approach. Geared up with an amazing freshness, a particular mineral note on a really mouthwatering taste buds and touched by a fragile and never ever aggressive carbonation. A Franciacorta of terrific character, class, skill and density.
