Region & History

Franciacorta is the sparkling wine from the hills south of Lake Iseo, not far from Brescia in Lombardy, and it's fermented exclusively in the bottle. Anyone who takes it for a kind of Prosecco is mistaken: here the same elaborate method applies as in Champagne, just with a Lombard accent.

The name probably derives from "curtes francae", medieval estates and villages that were exempt from taxes. The term "Franzacurta" already appears in the council records of Brescia in 1277, back then referring to still wine. Sparkling wine was only added in the 20th century.

The house of Guido Berlucchi is considered the pioneer, with its first sparkling wine from 1961; the rest of this story is told in our wine journey through Lombardy. Other families soon followed suit. Annamaria Clementi Zanella bought a small house in the woods near Erbusco, Ca' del Bosco, in 1964, and her son Maurizio Zanella turned it into a winery that still shapes the region today. Vittorio Moretti, a construction entrepreneur by trade, founded Bellavista in 1977, according to the winery initially with 3.5 hectares.

The authorities followed suit. The area received DOC status in 1967, producers founded their consortium in 1990, and DOCG status followed in 1995, applying exclusively to sparkling wine. Since August 1, 2003, the word "DOCG" no longer needs to appear on the label. That's why many bottles simply read "Franciacorta", and the law requires nothing more. This makes the region a special case among Italy's designated wine zones.

Today the consortium has over 120 member estates, with a vineyard area of around 3,000 hectares. According to consortium figures, about 18.9 million bottles reached the market in 2025. Exports grew by 5.3 percent, while total sales fell by one percent, and Italy remains the most important market.