Bellavista Franciacorta ‘Alma’ Gran Cuvée Brut NV

Bellavista Franciacorta ‘Alma’ Gran Cuvée Brut NV
€52.99 from

Wonderful fresh elegant wine with lemon verbena aromas, complex white peach and nectarine fruits, subtle toasted almonds and an excellent dry finish. Spellbinding wine.

This would make a brilliant aperitif, on its own, or with a few cheese nibbles and toasted almonds.

You may not have come across Franciacorta or Bellavista before. Franciacorta is in Lombardy to the east of Milan. Sparkling wine production only really began here in 1961, but has been hugely successful over the last few decades – it now makes the best sparkling wine in Italy (streets ahead of Prosecco). Bellavista was founded by businessman Vittorio Moretti in the early 1970s, with the aim of producing an Italian version of Champagne company Louis Roederer. In this he has succeeded; this is one of the finest, if not the finest sparkling wine houses in Italy. This wine is made from 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir (both Champagne grapes) and aged for 2 ½ years in bottle before release. So, would I be prepared to shell out €53, the same amount of money as for a good Champagne? The answer in this case, is unequivocally yes!