Mirabella Franciacorta Rosé, my favorite sparkler of 2020

Let’s talk about my favorite sparkling wine of 2020: Mirabella’s Rosé Franciacorta ($25).

Things to note at the top: Franciacorta is the crème de la crème when it comes to Italian sparkling wine. Second, I happen to adore sparkling rosé. Third, the critics love this particular wine too. Mirabella’s Rosé was the first Franciacorta ever to make Wine Spectator’s Top 100 list.

Also worth noting: Its beguiling wild berry aromas, coming from the pinot noir in the blend. Seductive biscuity notes from three years on the lees. A pretty blush-pink color, reminiscent of the sunset I once saw while boating on Lake Iseo, the great glacial lake in Lombardy bordering the Franciacorta region. 

But I must say, come next year, this favorite will be displaced by two others from Mirabella: DØM Rosé Franciacorta Dosaggio Zero Riserva and Pinot Bianco Brut Nature, as both will be newly imported by Baccanal Wine Imports in 2021.

I had the opportunity to preview these two wines in February 2020 BC (Before Covid). Mirabella export manager Marta Poli led journalists through a line-up of five sparklers, which also included the Franciacorta Rosé, along with their flagship Brut, called Edea, and their Satèn, by definition a 100 percent chardonnay.

Who is Mirabella?

Founded by Teresio Schiavi and partner Giacomo Cavalli in 1979, Mirabella remains a family winery. Teresio is still the enologist at the helm, but he’s now flanked by his sons Alessandro and Alberto, cellar master and marketing director respectively.

Mirabella cofounder Teresio Schiavi and sons Alberto and Alessandro Schiavi.

Mirabella was part of the first wave of wineries in Franciacorta, alongside Ca’ del Bosco, Bellavista, and Il Mosnel, among others. As an appellation, Franciacorta is quite new. The first sparklers from this lake region were released in 1961 by a small group of gentlemen farmers. Led by Giudo Berlucchi, they wanted to put the region on the map as a land of serious metodo classico wine (equivalent to méthode champenoise in France). By 1967, Franciacorta had become a DOC, then in 1987 it graduated to DOCG status. Riding in the slipstream of that top denomination, a second wave of wineries emerged in the 1990s. [For more on Franciacorta’s history and wine styles, see my article “Franciacorta: Bubbles alla Moda.”]

In terms of size, Mirabella belongs in the top 10 Franciacorta wineries, their annual production being around 450,000 bottles. The Franciacorta region as a whole makes only 18 million bottles; that’s quite boutique compared to Champagne’s 300 million and Prosecco’s 600 million.

Pinot Bianco, a stylistic signature

In the early years, Franciacorta was a blend of pinot noir (pinot nero in Italian) and pinot blanc (pinot bianco). Gradually chardonnay muscled pinot bianco aside, becoming the region’s dominate grape; chardonnay now accounts for 60 percent of all plantings. That dwarfs pinot bianco, now down to 4 percent and grown by only 10 producers, according to Mirabella export manager Marta Poli.

“This is a real pity,” she says, “because, in Mirabella’s opinion, pinot bianco is representative of Franciacorta and gives us something completely different in terms of style.”

Of the 10 wineries still growing pinot bianco, Mirabella has the most of all: 14% of total vines. So it makes sense that they’ve made it the hallmark of their style. Pinot bianco appears in their flagship Franciacorta Brut, an 80/20 chardonnay/pinot bianco blend. It’s 10 percent of the Franciacorta Rosé and is part of other cuvées that aren’t exported.

“Pinot Bianco, for us, means two things,” Poli says. “First, acidity,” an essential ingredient for sparkling wines the world over. “Second, a completely different bouquet. Pinot bianco is more floral than fruity. It’s not a full-bodied grape, but, in our opinion, is a really elegant grape and able to refresh.”

So it was a no-brainer for the winery to decide to make a pure pinot bianco sparkler. By DOCG law, their Pinot Bianco Brut Nature can’t be labeled Franciacorta, because the rules permit a maximum of 50 percent pinot bianco in the Franciacorta blend. No matter. A rose by any other name still smells as sweet.

I call this a bikini wine, where nothing is hidden. There’s no oak to cloak the flavors, being fermented in concrete vats. It’s zero dosage, meaning no sugar is added before the second fermentation in bottle; that allows the grape’s racy acidity to be on full display. It’s got minerality and a delicate white flower bouquet. Everything that makes for a refreshing and elegant aperitif. I’m not surprised that Japan ranks first among Mirabella’s export markets, since this would be the perfect pairing for sushi and tempura (as well as frito misto along Italy’s shores).

Mirabella’s rosés

“This is one of the oldest roses in Franciacorta,” says Poli of Mirabella’s bottling. “Along with Ca’ del Bosco, Bellavista, and Monte Rossa, we are one of the first seven Franciacorta Rosé producers.” They’ve been making this wine since 1982 — before rosé became trendy — and it remains one of Mirabella’s best-known labels in Italy and Germany. 

Making Wine Spectator’s Top 100 list in 2019 “was an important homage to those people who believed in rosé from the very beginning,” says Irene Graziotto of Studio Cru, a communications firm that represents Mirabella. “There’s this crazy thing in Italy, where right now we are the third producer in the world when it comes to rosé, but Italians don’t drink it that much. Men consider it more female.”

But even macho Italian guys might reconsider after tasting DØM Rosé. Created last year to celebrate Mirabella’s 40th anniversary, the winery pulled out the stops for this Reserve, aging it for 100 months (over eight years) on the lees. It’s also a millesimato, meaning the grapes come from just one vintage — in this case 2009.

Plus, it’s another zero dosage wine, the better to showcase the pretty red fruit from an old-vine blend of 60/25/15 pinot noir/pinot bianco/chardonnay, the latter fermented in French oak. This Reserve is complex, with layers of fruit, spice, minerality, and brioche, and very fine bubbles. It’s a rare bird indeed, with only 3000 bottles made. The next bottling — vintage 2011 — will be double that. But that’s the maximum they’ll ever produce, given that the vineyard it comes from is only two hectares (five acres) in size. Call it a unicorn wine.

If you can’t snare this charmed beast, their Franciacorta Rosé is a great alternative. Whatever the case, if you’d like a sparkling wine with elegance and class this holiday season, look no further than Mirabella.

An ancient Lombard castle seen from a Mirabella vineyard

This article was first published in the blog Living La Dolce Vita.