Wine from Lombardy
Wine from Lombardy
Lombardy Wines: From Sparkling Franciacorta to Bold Nebbiolo
Introduction
In many ways the motor that powers Italy, the wines of Lombardy have often been somewhat underrated compared to some of the region’s other exports. And perhaps that’s understandable – from Milan, Italy’s most dynamic city and financial centre, to the beauties of Lake Garda (which it shares with Veneto and Trentino) to one third of the most important rice in Italy, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle. Milan in particular, of course, is a gigantic centre of cultural gravity, from its fashion houses and the opera at La Scala to its two iconic football teams. But everything that Lombardy is, its chicness and elegance together with its honest and humble side, the great metropolis and the yawning country, is summed up by its wines, some of Italy’s most distinctive and interesting, and most celebrated.
For background: Lombardy is the most populous region in all of Italy and the fourth largest by land area, accounting for about 17% of its people. It is bordered by the country of Switzerland to the north, Piedmont to the west, Emilia-Romagna to the south, and Veneto to the east, while it shares a technical border with Trentino-Alto Adige as well by virtue of Lake Garda. As we mentioned before it is arguably the nation’s motor, responsible for around 20% of GDP. It is bisected by the river Po, as well as by several tributaries to the Po which constitute its river systems. Garda is not alone – lakes Iseo, Como and Maggiore also call the north of Lombardy their home, and this has a profound cooling influence almost mimicking of a sea for this landlocked region. This is, of course, particularly evident in the north, where the subalpine climes show quite dramatic diurnal temperature variation, excellent for maintaining high acidity; further south, into the valleys, the temperatures are warmer and more humid, which tends to favour fuller, more alcoholic wines.
The wine
But there’s only one place to start in Lombardy, and that’s right in the centre towards the southwest of the province of Brescia, indeed west of Brescia the city itself: the hills of Franciacorta. If Milan is Italy’s answer to Paris, then Franciacorta is Italy’s answer to Champagne, and this is no accident. Though still wine from these slopes have been recorded for millennia, and have carried some version of the name since before Dante’s time (though the ‘Franciacorta’ form didn’t appear until 1957), it wasn’t until the 1960s that they hit the wine world with a new style: a Champagne-a-like classic method sparkling wine based on the chardonnay grape. The assemblage differs from Champagne in two respects: first, chardonnay must predominate at 85%; second, while pinot noir (or pinot nero) is present and correct, pinot meunier is not – this strange red grape has been subbed out by the northern Italian stalwart pinot bianco (though only at 5% of the blend). Elegant and perfumed, Franciacorta is one of the most important sparkling wines in Europe. It’s also one of Lombardy’s 5 existing DOCGs – the others are Oltrepò Pavese Metodo Classico, Valtellina Superiore, Sforzato di Valtellina, and Moscato di Scanzo.
Oltrepò Pavese is found down in the southwest province of Pavia, and in many ways is the counterpart to Franciacorta. All three varieties used in the Brescian fizzer are also available to the Pavian along with pinot grigio, but here the star is instead pinot noir, vinified in bianco as in Champagne (or in rosé), making for a richer, fruitier style.
Going all the way to the northern province of Sondrio we find the wines of Valtellina, made from a grape the locals call ‘chiavennasca’, but better known as the great grape of Barolo – nebbiolo. There are two DOCGs here: the Valtellina Superiore, which must be at least 90% nebbiolo; and the extraordinary Sforzato (or ‘Sfursat’ in dialect), a wine made in the appassimento style in the manner of our very own Amarone!
Finally on the DOCGs front something truly unique. In the central area of the region, in the comune of Scanzorosciate in the province of Bergamo, Moscato di Scanzo is a dessert wine also made via the passito or appassimento method from a grape in the moscato family. So far so normal – with the twist that the grape in question is actually the impossibly rare moscato nero, a black grape the makes these red dessert wines of an almost inordinate perfumed and aromatic profile. It’s probably the greatest pairing around for a special local cheese from Bergamo, the world-famous Taleggio DOP.
But Lombardy doesn’t stop with just the DOCGs! The aforementioned Oltrepò Pavese area has a wider DOC zone which produces some deeply unusual red wines, particularly those based on the bonarda grape (another name for the vine known in Veneto as croatina; not to be confused with the Argentinian ‘bonarda’, named as such by Italian immigrants for its apparent similarities with its Lombard namesake, but which is in fact the Savoie grape known there as ‘douce noir’). Still wines are made in Franciacorta under the backslangy label of Curtefranca DOC, the whites from the same varieties as the fizz and the reds from right-bank Bordeaux style blends emphasising cabernet franc, carmenère and merlot (wines labelled ‘Vigna’ are considered of extra depth and complexity). Its neighbour Cellatica DOC produces Alpine reds from marzemino, schiava and barbera, fresh and frisky in style. Down by Lake Garda, the small but prolific Lugana DOC region produces tingly, steely wines from a grape known as trebbiano di Lugano, which turns out to be verdicchio under a mask. Lambrusco Mantovano DOC from the Mantua area, down in the southeast of the region, is the only Lambrusco label from outside Emilia-Romagna, whereas the northern part of the province Garda Colli Mantovano DOC, produces whites and reds from grapes like garganega and molinara which mirror their counterparts on the Veneto side of the lake. And on and on.
And really, on and on! This region, frequently overlooked, is such a fascinating, never-ending source of unique and unusual stuff, a land of true one-offs and strangenesses, a region of many influences climatic and cultural, the joins north to south, east to west, mountain to lake and valley to plane. Ignore at your peril!
Our wines from Lombardy
A selection of the wines from Lombardy we sell in our Venice wine shop and ship internationally.
Lombardy – The breakdown
Location: northern border.
Climate: generally cool continental.
Soils: very varied; glacial, alpine in the north; alluvial deposits along the Po; dry morainic in Franciacorta; more clay towards the south.
Elevation: From high to medium.
DOCGs and some DOCs: Franciacorta, Oltrepò Pavese Metodo Classico, Valtellina Superiore, Sforzato di Valtellina, Moscato di Scanzo (DOCG); Bonarda di Oltrepò Pavese, Curtefranca, Cellatica, Lugana, Lambrusco Mantovano, Garda Colli Mantovano (DOC).
Main red grapes: barbera, bonarda (croatina), cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, carmenère, chiavennasca (nebbiolo), groppello (rossignola), lambrusco, marzemino, merlot, moscato nero, pinot nero, schiava, uva rara.
Main white grapes: chardonnay, garganega, moscato, pinot bianco, pinot grigio, riesling italico, trebbiano di Lugana (verdicchio).
Hidden gem: in a land of the unique, they don’t come much more unusual than Moscato di Scanzo DOCG!
About Wine Shop all’Amarone
Wine Shop all’Amarone in Venice offers an exceptional selection of Italian wines, spotlighting the distinguished Amarone della Valpolicella. In addition to our Amarone focus, we proudly feature select wines from Lombardy, showcasing the diversity and richness of Italy’s winemaking regions. Our curated collection is designed to offer wine lovers a taste of Italy’s finest, from the robust flavors of Amarone to the unique profiles of Lombardy wines.
