The Winery Duilio of Franciacorta of Lombardie

I’m a massive fan of English sparkling wines, which are getting better with every vintage, aided by the changing climate, of course – the grapes are filling up with sun, and you can taste that in the glass. So how can we convince consumers not to overlook English sparkling wine, and show them that it is a real contender: often just as good, if not better than Champagne? Perhaps by pitting the two against each other in a special blind tasting by the experts, Judgement of Paris style. Judgement of ...

Altos de Pinto Bandeira, located in Brazil’s southern Serra Gaúcha wine region, has been recognised as a DO for traditional method sparkling wines. The new DO, which is the first in the New World that’s exclusively for sparkling wines, was announced on 29 November 2022. The first wines labelled DO Altos de Pinto Bandeira will arrive in the market this year. The move follows 10 years of campaigning and research by the Pinto Bandeira Wine Producers Association (Asprovinho). It worked with bodies i ...

Franciacorta producers have reported sales up by 28.3% last year, compared to 2020, when sales fell by nearly 10% to 15.8 million bottles. Sales of 20.3m bottles in 2021 were also higher than the pre-pandemic total of 17.6m bottles in 2019, according to the Franciacorta Consortium. It declined to disclose the value of sales, but there is optimism among winemakers that more consumers are discovering these traditional-method sparkling wines from Brescia in Lombardy. Arturo Ziliani, CEO of Berlucch ...