There is no doubt that the sparkling production of Ferrari wineries, their Trento doc, represents one of the highest productive peaks of this kind in Italy, and that these wines are among the most renowned ambassadors in the world of Italian style. On the other hand, the history of this House was born more than a century ago, when the young oenologist Giulio Ferrari (trained at the Royal Agricultural School of San Michele all’Adige and at the exclusive School of Viticulture of Montpellier) founded it in 1902, at the age of 23, and begins to produce sparkling wines, making use of his experience gained during his apprenticeship in Epenay, in Champagne. From this cellar, according to the owner’s wishes, very few bottles come out, about 9000 a year, which immediately meet the approval of the fans, to the point that the new vintages are booked years in advance.
Despite the fame of the brand, Ferrari remains a niche one, and it is necessary to wait until 1952 for the final change gear; in that year, in fact, Giulio Ferrari, having had no heirs, sells the winery and the brand to Bruno Lunelli who already founded, In 1929, a famous wine shop in Trento. Thanks to the work of Bruno, and the subsequent generations, the Trento doc Ferrari have made the definitive move that has led them, today, to produce annually over 4,500,000 bottles. However, the quality has not changed, and the property is constantly looking for new challenges to be met and won, as the last chronologically, the one of the organic growing. Since 2010, in fact, the winery has adopted practices such as the total ban of fertilizers, pesticides and chemical herbicides, the use of the technique of green manure, the planting of essences in the vineyard (to increase fertility) and the bet on the restoration of biodiversity in the vineyard, receiving, in 2015, the biodiversity friend certification.
In the range of wines produced, a prominent place undoubtedly belongs to Perlé, a vintage sparkling wine that for years has been (and still continues to be) a real battle horse among the medium-high level wines of this winery. It is a wine that comes from a careful selection of the best Chardonnay grapes, from vineyards exposed to the southeast and southwest, between 300 and 700 meters above sea level. Thanks to this wealth of altitude and the variety of plots, the 8 winemakers led by Mauro Lunelli can count on a very wide color palette to paint, every year, the best possible Perlé. The manual harvest, with a first sorting in the plant, is followed by the vinification of the base wines which, subsequently, are left to refine a few months before being bottled with the addition of yeast and sugar, to carry out the second fermentation, the one that leads to the creation of perlage. Since then, the bottles, corked with the crown cap, stop for over 50 months in the cellar to refine, before the disgorgement, the re-ripening with liqueur d’expédition, and the final closure with the classic mushroom shaped cork.
The 2009 vintage has a beautiful straw-yellow color with golden reflections and an incessant perlage, very elegant, with an olfactory range that starts from nectarine, apricot, renetta apple and fragrant brioche, with a side of kumquat, candied orange, hawthorn and toasted sweet almond, and a final echo of custard and sultana grapes. The palate is characterized by the excellent creaminess of perlage, accompanied by outstanding freshness and a tasty sapid-almond component, all while returning to retro-olfactory crisp yellow fruit, the brioche and the sultanas that accompany the sip until a really refreshing and persistent finish.
Rating: 90/100
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