Above, from left: Nico Danesi and Giovanni Arcari are among my best friends in the world and they produce one of my favorite expressions of Franciacorta (image via the Arcari + Danesi Facebook).
In case you’re thinking of getting me something wine-related for Christmas, it’s a great place to glean gift ideas!
And click here to read Walter Speller’s (unsurprisingly) controversial article and tasting notes on Giovanni Arcari and Nico Danesi’s Franciacorta, published earlier this week by JancisRobinson.com.
The article is available only to subscribers (and out of respect for Walter and his publisher, I can’t share the content in its entirety here).
But I will offer this passage:
- “We are 1,200 km from Champagne and the phenolic ripeness of our grapes is completely different. Therefore we cannot use champagne methods and ways of working,” Giovanni Arcari, who runs the estate with winemaker Nico Danesi, explained. “In Italy we must not think of producing ‘champagne,’ especially because we actually can produce something radically different. Our style is based on the most banal of premises: Wine is made of ripe grapes.” It seems so logical, but hardly anybody in Franciacorta dares to go this way.
Disclosure (in case you hadn’t already figured it out): Giovanni and Nico are among my best friends of all time.
In May of this year, I attended a tasting very similar to the one that Walter describes in his piece (Walter is also a good friend; he was supposed to be at the tasting in May but was called away at the last minute).
Check out the interview and tasting notes here.
And btw, a gift subscription to JancisRobinson.com makes for a great Christmas present!
Buona lettura… enjoy the posts!
Do Bianchi 