Blanc de Blancs | Stefanago

DENOMINATION: Vino Spumante Metodo Classico
TYPE: Sparkling wine
GRAPE: chardonnay, riesling and müller thurgau
ORIGIN: Italy, Lombardy
AGEING POTENTIAL: 7 months
SERVING TEMPERATURE: 10-12° C
GLASS: flute or not very wide white wine glass
ALCOHOL: 12.5% vol.
FORMAT: 75 cl

THE WINE

TECHNICAL SPECIFICS

FRESHNESS: ◼︎◼︎◼︎◼︎◻︎
BODY: ◼︎◼︎◼︎◻︎◻︎
SAPIDITY: ◼︎◼︎◼︎◼︎◼︎
SOFTNESS: ◼︎◼︎◼︎◼︎◻︎

NOTES BY OUR SOMMELIERS

👁 a beautiful deep straw yellow with fine perlage;

👃🏻 the nose expresses an intense and fruity bouquet (ripe yellow fruit), with aromatic hints of thyme, bread crust and yeast;

👄 on the palate, it is well balanced with a fragrant note of the right acidity. The sip is pleasant thanks to the fineness of the perlage.

FOOD PAIRINGS

Blanc de Blancs is a very versatile and elegant wine. Due to its structure, it goes well with classic risottos in the Lombardy tradition, but also with a nice dish of spaghetti with clams and Pachino tomatoes! It goes well with aperitifs, thanks to its freshness, but also with fresh cheeses, to play with the fattiness of the dish thanks to its effervescence, and with white meats.

WINE-MAKING AND REFINEMENT

Organic cultivation, manual harvest with selection of the bunches. In the Metodo Classico Ancestrale, the grapes are harvested when fully ripe: this is the first major difference from the 'technological' Metodo Classico, in which the search for acidity leads to an early harvest. Nature taking its final course always rewards and a perfectly ripe grape gives complete olfactory and taste sensations. No great reasoning is needed. Fermentation stops with the natural autumn temperature drop, only to resume the following spring. And here is the 'prodigy' of the second re-fermentation, without additions, as nature moulds. After disgorging by hand, top-up takes place with the same wine, without addition of liqueur.

YOU WILL LOVE IT FOR...

its finesse and elegance.

ORIGIN

TERROIR

The winery is located in Oltrepò Pavese, in the municipality of Borgo Priolo. It is an area with a vocation par excellence for grape and wine production: in fact, its viticultural history goes back at least 2000 years. The vine-growing area of 13,269 hectares, out of a regional total of 24,000, thus represents about 55% of the area under vine in Lombardy. The territory is hilly with steep slopes rising to 1,700 metres above sea level in the first Apennines and more rounded ridges in the eastern area towards Piacenza.

The hills of the Oltrepò offer an attractive landscape continuum and represent the third largest Italian area for surface area almost entirely planted with vines and with production predominantly of denomination. The variety of the territory, the proximity of the sea and the presence of rivers and streams influence the climate, which is mild and temperate, with excellent day-night excursions, especially in summer.

WINERY

Those who know a little about the world of wine know that Castello di Stefanago is a model. More: a forerunner. Brothers Antonio and Giacomo Baruffaldi run the winery in Borgo Priolo, in the Oltrepò pavese. An estate of 22 hectares of vineyards, at the centre of which stands the castle tower, witness to a thousand-year history. They chose organic farming when it was not yet so widespread, when sensitivity to the subject was not as marked as it is today. At Castello di Stefanago, the vineyard is an independent ecosystem, it is the sun at the centre of the universe: it is observed and cared for in order to adapt each intervention to the real needs, without ever losing sight of the health of the plants and the vitality of the soil. It is an almost holistic approach, which demands attention to many details and unconditional respect for nature. I often meet Antonio and Giacomo at trade fairs: they always have something new to taste. After all, they grow Barbera, Pinot Noir, Croatina, Pinot Grigio, Cabernet Sauvignon and Rhine Riesling: there is no shortage of grapes, no shortage of knowledge either.