When we decided to set up family, we didn’t actually think it could happen. Instead, after 120 years of hearts and hands in red wines, we got thirsty to hit new enological heights.
We stated it in the highlands of the Versa Valley in Oltrepò Pavese. A new universe made of bubbles, sourced at high elevations, and that like good ideas, take flight.

Three new “Metodo Classico” (Champenoise method) sparkling wines have a pent up need to express the pure essence of Pinot Nero and Chardonnay, just like the best bubbles.

Because you know:
#TheFirstBubble is never forgotten.

410 Chardonnay

470 Pinot Nero

530 Pinot Nero Rosé

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The Classic Method is a sparkling winemaking system based on the principle of refermentation in the bottle. It was born in France, in the Champagne region. Tradition has it that at the end of 1600 the abbot Pierre Pérignon of the monastery of Hautvillers (better known as Dom Perignon) discovered the method of refermentation of wine in the bottle.

Pérignon understood and refined the role of the second fermentation, perfecting its technique, creating the sparkling winemaking method that spread throughout the world as the Champenoise Method.

Sparkling wine production according to the classic method includes several phases:

–  The base wines for the production of sparkling wines are vinified as still wines, starting from grapes harvested early to guarantee the wines good acidity.

– Addition of the liqueur de tirage: a solution composed of base wine, cane sugar, selected yeasts and mineral salts is added to the thus assembled cuvée to carry out the fermentation process, which will lead to the development of alcohol and carbon dioxide, i.e. bubbles .

– Bottling of wine with yeasts. These will be collected at the end of the stay.

– Second fermentation: the bottles are positioned horizontally in environments with a controlled temperature between 10° and 12° in the absence of lights and vibrations and an adequate level of humidity. The sugars present are slowly transformed by the yeasts, developing alcohol and carbon dioxide. This phase can last from a minimum of usually 18 months up to many years.
Once fermentation is complete, the yeast membranes begin to decompose and release complex aromas and aromas.
Thanks to this long and slow refinement process, the sparkling wine also develops a fine and persistent perlage. The length of time spent on the yeasts, together with the possible maturation of the base wines, therefore determines the aromatic and tasting profile of the classic method sparkling wine.

– Remuage: at the end of the refinement phase it is necessary to separate the lees of the exhausted yeasts from the sparkling wine. For this purpose, the bottles are rotated (remuage) at an increasing inclination from the horizontal position to almost vertical. In this way the residues are concentrated at the tip of the neck of the bottle. The remuage is conducted manually, using traditional wooden trestles called “pupitres”.

– Disgorgement: the lees are expelled, freezing the necks of the bottles facing downwards in a refrigerating bath. This is followed by the removal of the crown cap and the expulsion of the frozen lees cylinder.

– Dosage: during the fermentation process all the sugars in the grapes and those added with the liqueur de tirage have been transformed and the sparkling wine is completely dry at the end of the process.
Before the final corking it is necessary to add some liquid to compensate for the volume lost during disgorgement. This liquid is called “liqueur d’expedition”, which can have different degrees of “dosage” depending on its sugar content.

– Capping and packaging: after the liqueur d’expedition has been perfectly blended, the corking and packaging begins.