CA DEL BOSCO

Forget what you think you know about Italian sparkling wine; Ca’ del Bosco kick it out of the park. Italy’s finest producer of the genre, they make Franciacorta that is better than many houses in Champagne. Franciacorta is so highly regarded it’s the only region in Italy not required to declare its DOCG appellation on the label. Ca’ del Bosco’s Maurizio Zanella is a man obsessed, a fact we back up with the following evidence, Your Honour: These organically-oriented folk wash their grapes, then individually dry each one; for purposes of consistency, they have the largest stainless tank in the world, so big that it inhabits multiple levels of its building and defies photographing; the bottles are filled from their bases up, dispelling the air rather than replacing it from the top. And check out the blue wolves. Case closed.

Maurizio Zanella

There are moments without words that only sensations can define, feelings that reach the heart and become the rapture, joy and beauty of a moment to be treasured deep inside. The art of wine is one such moment, a masterpiece created by the talent that few possess, in which dedication and ability blend in a magical, mystical marriage with nature. The infinite in a single drop, fruit of a slow, devoted and meticulous passion. People, like territories, have a vocation. And so it was that a fifteen-year-old boy had a lightning intuition of what life could be like pursuing it. The meeting between young Maurizio Zanella and gentle Franciacorta, when his mother moved to Erbusco and planted the first vineyard, was the initial contact with what would be the love of his life. But it was after a trip to Champagne, to the famous maisons whose wine had always fascinated and inspired him, that Maurizio returned with the unshakable idea of making something similar. What was once a house in a chestnut wood became one of the most trailblazing wineries in Italy. Since then a single principle has been defining the essence of Ca’ del Bosco: the quest for excellence.