Cà del Bosco
Ca' del Bosco unquestionably represents a pillar not only of the Franciacorta area but of the entire national wine scene. This very important production reality was born in the mid-1960s, when Annamaria Clementi Zanella purchased a small house with the same name in the municipality of Erbusco, in the heart of the area, with woods and vineyards.
However, the winemaking path of the company was started by Annamaria's son, Maurizio Zanella, who was able to identify and enhance the characteristics of the Franciacorta territory.
At the beginning of the 1970s, Maurizio became the precursor of the valorisation of those areas, transforming the small "ca' del Bosco" house into one of the most modern and productive wineries in Italy.
Since then, every action has been dominated by a single and fundamental principle, which defines the essence of the winery: the pursuit of excellence, which has always guided the maison since the first experimental phase. Immediately afterwards, in 1972, the first white wine, Pinot di Franciacorta, arrived on the market; four years later it was the turn of the first Ca' del Bosco red, the Rosso di Franciacorta.
1976 is the year of the first harvest that will give life to the first three Franciacorta Ca' del Bosco sparkling wines: Brut, Dosage Zéro, Rosé, two years later, the Crémant which will then be released in 1980.
Precisely in 1978, during one of his research and study trips to France, Maurizio Zanella met and hired André Dubois, chef de cave who would bring rigor and competence to the company. It will be thanks to him that the production of Franciacorta will be consolidated, leading in 1979 to the birth of the first vintage of the Franciacorta Reserve, a Millesimato Pinot to which the founder's name will be dedicated starting from the 1989 vintage. His imprint on all Ca' del Bosco wines will be definitive.
The birth of the Pinéro, Maurizio Zanella and Chardonnay wines dates back to the early 1980s thanks to the collaboration with the Russian oenologist André Tchelistcheff; subsequently the American Brian Larky will arrive and together with Dubois will inaugurate a season of experimentation and innovation. In 1986 it is the turn of Stefano Capelli, the current winemaker of Ca' del Bosco and today custodian of the secrets of André Dubois, who over the years will become his teacher allowing him to refine the cellar techniques adopted up to that point. With him the maison will reach its peak and gain a well-defined identity.
The 2000s are those that will lead to an expansion of the cellar from a surface area of 10,000 square meters to 20,000; in the meantime, the new bottling lines, an innovative system for washing and drying the grapes and "zero oxygen" dégorgement are being defined and developed. And in 2014 the company obtained organic certification.
The vineyards, which today can boast on average almost all more than forty years of age, are treated separately during the winemaking phase, thus respecting the peculiarities of each individual terroir. In fact, the assembly of the different parcels takes place only after the ripening phase has ended, so as to have a clear idea of the maximum expression achieved by each grape. The territory and the roots come first, and precisely in light of this intelligent philosophy, an agronomic regime with low environmental impact is used between the rows, with minimal organic fertilization only.