Frescobaldi to launch high-end sparkler

Family-owned Italian producer Marchesi de’ Frescobaldi is to launch a high-end sparkling wine made from Champagne grapes next year.

Snowy vines in Pomino where the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes that go into the fizz are grown

The Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes that go into the fizz are grown in the mountainous village of Pomino in Tuscany’s Rufina commune, where it is common to see snow on the vines in March.

Set 585m above sea level, Pomino, which has just over 200 inhabitants, was named a DOC the ‘70s.

“It gets very cold up in the mountains and the scenery is almost alpine – the flowers and trees change when you get there,” the company’s new president, Lamberto Frescobaldi, told the drinks business.

Lamberto Frescobaldi. Credit: Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters

Named Leonia after a French-born ancestor within the Frescobaldi family, the sparkler undergoes its second fermentation in bottle followed by 38 months of lees ageing before release.

Some 10,000 bottles of the 2010 vintage will be released next year at around £30 a bottle.

“The idea was to make a high-end sparkling wine that was very different to Prosecco in style,” Frescobaldi told db.

“We wanted something completely dry that had enough complexity to be paired with food. “I tasted the wine recently and it’s a real food wine. There’s a lot going on,” he added.

The company already makes two sparkling wines: a Prosecco and a Brut non-vintage from Trento DOC, though this is its first premium sparkling wine project.

Frescobaldi is looking to hold a few thousand bottles of the 2012 vintage back for extra ageing, with the view to a second release down the line.

Last month, Marchesi de’ Frescobaldi confirmed Lamberto Frescobaldi as its new president after 24 years working for his family company.