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Cà del Bosco is in Franciacorta, a morainic area south of Lake Iseo, in the province of Brescia. “Franciacorta” actually comes from Latin “curtes francae”: the “curtes” were the main centers of medieval trade, while “francae” means “duty-free”; that is to say, those small communities of Benedictine monks in Middle Ages were exempt from paying taxes on their trade, in exchange for the reclamation of their territories. On those lands, they taught farming and cultivation techniques to the peasants.

In 1979, Maurizio Zanella began planting his first five rows of vineyards, leaving minimum distances between each plant – he was thus able to get 10,000 plants per hectare. He has also always implemented a painstaking and careful selection of the best vines – these two revolutionary techniques have allowed him to obtain great success all over the world with his exquisite wines.
It goes without saying that Cà del Bosco expert cultivation, selection, production, and quality assurance techniques are strictly enforced and applied. In addition to the Franciacorta variety, the 370 acres of vineyard also produce white and red wines. Still, the grapes from different vineyards are carefully separated, respecting their original “terroir”, then assemble only during the final refinement stage.

The very term “terroir” evokes green landscapes, gentle-sloped hills, human-made geometries of long rows of vines carefully tended to by real and dedicated experts. With this term, it is thus possible to identify a real, tangible, and well-defined area, according to its geographical, pedological, geological, hydrological, and microclimatic features.

The local wine producers and normal citizens alike are very well aware of the cultural heritage of this long-thriving business. Franciacorta, therefore, represents the excellence of the terroir: a vocation for exceptional viticulture, from its very beginning.

The vineyards are subjected to strict agronomic policies with a very low environmental impact, with very little and exclusively organic fertilization; that has always been done to respect the territory and the very exclusive features of every single type of wine.

Cà del Bosco winery, which used to be a single farmhouse in a chestnut forest, has integrated itself with the surrounding environment, amongst the hills of morainic origin. The shapes and colors of the company building were inspired by the shades of the forest: a gray-green wave-like skyline that recalls the very hills and the layout of the vineyards – everything was designed to comply and blend with the very rhythms of Mother Nature.

Cà del Bosco is definitely worth a visit also for its wondrous art collection exhibiting photographs and sculptures by great artists such as Arnaldo, Pomodoro, Igor Mitoraj, Rabarama (Paola Epifani).

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)