The best wineries in Lombardia.
Close and far cultures interwine at Tenuta Mazzolino, after all its name in Latin means exactly “meeting place”, stop–over (Mansiolinum). Vines have been growing here for 3,000 years, the ancient tradition today is overlapped by modern technologies, but the flavour of Mazzolino wines that cheer up the palates of connoisseurs and lovers is not given simply by the right alcohol content, by the quality of grapes, by their processing; the essence that nourishes the roots of Pinot Nero, Chardonnay, Bonarda and Cabernet Sauvignon vines was created by the deep passion of those who cultivate this rich soil. In 1980 Enrico Braggiotti was looking for a place of aggregation for his dynasty composed of 5 families, to enjoy the company of his 4 children and 12 grandchildren. He wanted a land where to sink the Italian roots of a descent born partly in Turkey and partly in France, a land in which to sow the seed of a passion grown over the years: that of wine. His hope was that love for good wine was received by his family.
His daughter Sandra fulfilled his dream, with spontaneous enthusiasm and a fair entrepreneurial verve. The hill of Corvino, with a vast horizon from the Alps to the Apennines and an extraordinary view of Pavia, was the perfect place to achieve those goals. On the way beaten by the ancient Romans, Sandra embarked on a journey that brought to life a new and important chapter for this estate. In the village of 5 houses, a guest house and a small church, surrounded by fields and vineyards, each family found its home. Placed the basis, with respect to the character that Marquis Alfonso Corti had given to this place, Sandra started to work to build the company.
Over the years, the Estate was almost totally replanted. Corvino San Quirico, whose natural disposition welcomes it, becomes a little fantasy world: great wine, fruit trees, chickens, horses, rose gardens and a generous country that exudes life and beauty. The products of the highest quality that grow here are but a natural consequence of a place recognized and appreciated by the new owners. Exciting confirmations, new air, elegance and personality, are attributes selected by wine experts and critics to describe wines, but equally well define the spirit of the place and of those who live in it. On the thread of 45th parallel, twenty hectares of Mazzolino are the cradle of a culture that values the full character of the area, once part of the Old Piedmont, restoring a deep bond with France, which in this land and in the Braggiotti family has strong roots.
Azienda Agricola Monsupello places its foundation more than a century ago, in 1893, when the Boatti Family in Cà del Tava locality in the municipality of Oliva Gessi already dedicated itself to the care of their vineyards. In 1914 the Boatti bought, a few kilometers away, another plot called Podere La Borla in the municipality of Torricella Verzate. Here they founded a winery, the same that today has been upgraded and modernized for the vinification of the grapes of the original farmhouses and those gradually acquired.
In 1959, Carlo Boatti embossed to the company a further development, he modernized it again acquiring new land in the municipalities of Casteggio, Redavalle, Pietra de Giorgi, reshaped the varietal structure with the introduction of new grape varieties, implementing new winery structures, created modern facilities for winemaking, bottling and storaging of wines.
Today Monsupello is managed by the heirs of Carlo, his wife Carla and their children Pierangelo and Laura Boatti, accompanied by a trained technical staff in the vineyard and in the wine cellar coordinated by the oenologist Marco Bertelegni.
The 50 hectares of vineyards owned, grown to have a low yield of grapes per hectare, the manual harvesting only in boxes, the grapes/wine yields below 55% are our goal to present structured and harmonious wines that can give emotions to consumers. The company is constantly changing according to the current market needs and is well determined to continue the journey begun by Carletto, based on qualitative targets that have brought it in time to the top of Italian oenology, with numerous awards by various guides.
The “S.a.S. Giorgi & C.” company was founded in 1875 and has known three generations of vinegrowers. With three great detached wineries for processing, packaging and storage of wines, it has equipped them with modern and sophisticated machinery.
The first, situated in the Casa Chizzoli district, has a capacity of more or less 20,000 quintals of wine and inside of it we find vinification plants of white and red grapes. The product here obtained is transported, through cisterns, in a second winery, located in the Camponoce di Canneto Pavese district, the main seat of the structure, where in addition to the modern bottling chain, the administrative offices are placed. The bottled and packaged wine, partly remains in the above–mentioned winery and partly is transported to the third winery, which was the old seat, located in the Vigalone district.
The company also has a fourth cellar, underground, which enjoys an ideal temperature for the second fermentation of sparkling wine and for the aging of valuable red wines.
Azienda Agricola Provenza, now a balanced blend of history and modernity, is composed of four farms, the oldest built in 1710 by the notary from Desenzano Sebastiano Maioli and since 1967 the seat of the Provenza’s activity, Cà Maiol.
To it, the Contato family has added over the years the land of the Molino, Rocchetta and Storta farms, where new vineyards were planted, to meet the demand of a booming market. The plan of reorganization of the structure has also witnessed, in recent times, the construction of a modern and large underground wine cellar and an architecturally enhanced exhibition space where the public can taste all the wines produced by the company up to the noble extra virgin olive oils of Garda.
Of agricultural tradition since the thirteenth century, the Ricci Curbastro family leads companies in Lugo di Romagna (RA), in Rontana di Brisighella (RA) and the farm of the same name in Capriolo in Franciacorta (BS).
Of the 32 hectares of farmland 27.5 are planted with vineyards according to the strict guidelines of modern viticulture and of the Franciacorta Wine Consortium, to which the company has been belonging since the foundation.
In the centuries–old park, where Villa Evelina is located, there is the underground WINERY in which fermentation and slow maturation of Franciacorta DOCG take place.
The vinification is followed by the oenologists Alberto Musatti, Annalisa Massetti and Riccardo Ricci Curbastro: a mix of experiences for wines intended for increasingly demanding palates of consumers all around the world.
Alessandro Bianchi boasts year after year a valuable and constant production, based essentially on Franciacorta, where are nuances to make the difference between a label and another. “4 Grappoli” of leap for Franciacorta Brut Cuvette, where qualities of simplicity and freshness coexist harmoniously with more complex perceptions given from long aging maturation on yeasts. Excellent is also the comer Franciacorta Rosé Brut, for now limited to 5,000 bottles but destined to grow in the coming years.
Great performances of the company run by the Uberti family, for several years at the top of the national sparkling wine making, are almost a custom. To support these achievements, a geological and microclimate context that offers some significant advantages, compared to other areas, contribute. The superficial limestone layers, along with the veins of clay and sand, ensure optimum thermal stresses during summer and winter, enriching grapes of precious minerals and maintaining their values of acidity high, a guarantee of complex and long–lived wines.
Travaglino is a reality in continuous development, which supports for the production of all the company’s sparkling wines the exclusive use of steel during the ripening phases, in order to safeguard and enhance the varietal features of the vines. Worth to mention is Oltrepò Pavese Brut Cuve 59 2006, based on the character of Pinot Nero and able, in pairings, to step up with red meats. Excellent result also for the other samples tasted. Oltrepò Pavese Brut Classese 2006 has not been produced due to climate ranges not suitable for that label.
The Cavalleri family has owned lands in Erbusco since 1450, as evidenced by a deed preserved in the family archive.
In the same archive there are a deed of purchase of the Rampaneto vineyard in 1842, even today company’s cru, and also the project concerning the division of the inheritance (1904) of Nob. Cav. Giuseppe Paolo Cavalleri between his sons Attilio and Giovanni. This act shows a winery structure suitable for a production that was already important at the time, although until 1967, the year of recognition of Franciacorta DOC, white wines and red wines produced were sold in bulk.
After the advent of “Disciplinare del Franciacorta” we started to bottle: in 1968 there are the first bottles of wine labeled and in the same year the company took its present name: “Gian Paolo e Giovanni Cavalleri”.
Gian Paolo and Giovanni, father and son, are taking care of the winery now. Together, they realized the new cellar, leaving the historical properties within the family mansion, today the town hall of Erbusco.
In the new winery, in 1979, the first 6,000 bottles of Franciacorta were produced, which in those days could still be defined champenoise method.
In 1990 Giovanni Cavalleri with other wise producers of Franciacorta, founded the Consorzio Volontario di Franciacorta, in which he played also the role of president. In all these years, with the coming of Maria and Giulia, daughters of Giovanni, who joined the company, and lately of grandchildren Francesco and Diletta, and with the cooperation of the sales manager Aldo Pagnoini and of the oenologist Giampaolo Turra, the family developed with care and commitment the original plan: to become a reference company, able to be recognized among the other wineries for its own peculiar style.
Always supporters of the potential of the Blanc des Blancs, we produce our Franciacorta exclusively from Chardonnay grapes from our vineyards, continuing to prefer to volumes the pursuit of quality and the higher expression of our cru.
The selection we had the opportunity to evaluate revealed an absolute respect for the varietal characteristics of the grape varieties and of the designation of origin: they are measured and spirited Franciacorta wines, without forced “dosages” and excesses in those fragrant notes that sometimes compromise the spontaneity of this type.
Chasing the dream of creating his own wine, Paolo Radici, businessman native of Bergamo, comes in Franciacorta and restores the house belonged to the pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli.
It is 1996, and a few years later, near the dwelling surrounded by ten hectares of vineyards, the winery is founded: an example of efficiency and architectural elegance.
One after another, Franciacorta wines and still wines start to be produced, concrete expressions of a generous land, enriched by Ronco Calino with the desire to produce unhurried, in full respect for the land, the vineyard and the good drinker.
The company of Marcello Monzio Compagnoni, strong of the wine consulting of Donato Lanati, offers a range of Franciacorta, all belonging to the 2005 vintage, capable to convince and convey a remarkable constancy in quality. To integrate the line there are also still wines, among them a Moscato di Scanzo is worth to mention.
The range of the company, now limited to three products, is waiting for a Franciacorta Pas Dos whose output is expected by the end of 2009, the result of a work in the vineyard aimed to reduce the yields per hectare in order to concentrate the fruity and mineral material in grapes. Moreover, practices of wine maturation, entrusted only for a small part to barriques, seem to enhance the varietal traits of the used grapes.
A careful management of wood during the phases of vinification and aging, a high density of vines per hectare, in order to enhance and increase the organoleptic characteristics of wines: those are the main features of Monte Rossa. Worth to mention is Franciacorta Satèn Brut, which captivates with a pleasant citrus and mineral structure, able to lengthen an exalt its complexity of drinking.
The Maiolini brothers, assisted by the expert Jean Pierre Valade, focus their skills on a high level production, blending and enhancing with mastery the grapes they have available. The most interesting wine of this year is Franciacorta Ante Omnia 2004, with an intense aromatic palette of remarkable depth and taste.
Search on the map the best wineries in Lombardia. With this simple tool you have the opportunity to discover the winery that is the nearest to you or to the area you prefer.
Via Mazzolino, 26 27050
Corvino San Quirico (Pavia)
Close and far cultures interwine at Tenuta Mazzolino, after all its name in Latin means exactly “meeting place”, stop–over (Mansiolinum). Vines have been growing here for 3,000 years, the...
CONTATTA & PRENOTA
Via San Lazzaro, 5 27050
Torricella Verzate (Pavia)
Azienda Agricola Monsupello places its foundation more than a century ago, in 1893, when the Boatti Family in Cà del Tava locality in the municipality of Oliva Gessi already dedicated itself to...
CONTATTA & PRENOTA
Fr. Ne Camponoce, 39/a 27044
Canneto Pavese (Pavia)
The “S.a.S. Giorgi & C.” company was founded in 1875 and has known three generations of vinegrowers. With three great detached wineries for processing, packaging and storage of wines, it has...
CONTATTA & PRENOTA
Via Colli Storici 25015
Desenzano del Garda (Brescia)
Azienda Agricola Provenza, now a balanced blend of history and modernity, is composed of four farms, the oldest built in 1710 by the notary from Desenzano Sebastiano Maioli and since 1967 the...
CONTATTA & PRENOTA
Villa Evelina - Via Adro, 37 25031
Capriolo (Brescia)
Of agricultural tradition since the thirteenth century, the Ricci Curbastro family leads companies in Lugo di Romagna (RA), in Rontana di Brisighella (RA) and the farm of the same name in Capriolo...
CONTATTA & PRENOTA
Frazione Villa, 12 25040
Monticelli Brusati (Brescia)
Alessandro Bianchi boasts year after year a valuable and constant production, based essentially on Franciacorta, where are nuances to make the difference between a label and another. “4...
CONTATTA & PRENOTA
Via E. Fermi, 2 - Loc. salem 25030
Erbusco (Brescia)
Great performances of the company run by the Uberti family, for several years at the top of the national sparkling wine making, are almost a custom. To support these achievements, a geological and...
CONTATTA & PRENOTA
Località Travaglino, 6/A 27040
Calvignano (Pavia)
Travaglino is a reality in continuous development, which supports for the production of all the company’s sparkling wines the exclusive use of steel during the ripening phases, in order to...
CONTATTA & PRENOTA
Via Provinciale, 96 25030
Erbusco (Brescia)
The Cavalleri family has owned lands in Erbusco since 1450, as evidenced by a deed preserved in the family archive. In the same archive there are a deed of purchase of the Rampaneto vineyard in...
CONTATTA & PRENOTA
Via Pace, 60 25046
Cazzago San Martino (Brescia)
The selection we had the opportunity to evaluate revealed an absolute respect for the varietal characteristics of the grape varieties and of the designation of origin: they are measured and...
CONTATTA & PRENOTA
Via Fenice, 45 25030
Adro (Brescia)
Chasing the dream of creating his own wine, Paolo Radici, businessman native of Bergamo, comes in Franciacorta and restores the house belonged to the pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. It is...
CONTATTA & PRENOTA
Via Nigoline, 18 25030
Adro (Brescia)
The company of Marcello Monzio Compagnoni, strong of the wine consulting of Donato Lanati, offers a range of Franciacorta, all belonging to the 2005 vintage, capable to convince and convey a...
CONTATTA & PRENOTA
Via Valenzano, 23 25050
Passirano (Brescia)
The range of the company, now limited to three products, is waiting for a Franciacorta Pas Dos whose output is expected by the end of 2009, the result of a work in the vineyard aimed to reduce the...
CONTATTA & PRENOTA
Via Monte Rossa, 1 25040
Cazzago San Martino (Brescia)
A careful management of wood during the phases of vinification and aging, a high density of vines per hectare, in order to enhance and increase the organoleptic characteristics of wines: those are...
CONTATTA & PRENOTA
Via Manzoni, 3 25050
Ome (Brescia)
The Maiolini brothers, assisted by the expert Jean Pierre Valade, focus their skills on a high level production, blending and enhancing with mastery the grapes they have available. The most...
CONTATTA & PRENOTA