Ferrari Giulio Ferrari Riserva del Fondatore 2006
- Decanter
-
Robert
Parker
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Decanter
Giulio Ferrari was a pioneering polyglot nurseryman from Trentino with two great passions in life: Chardonnay, which he was instrumental in introducing into Italy on a wide scale, and Champagne. Following his intuition that the slopes of the Adige valley offered the growing conditions for making great sparkling wines, he started experimenting with the Champagne method around the beginning of the last century and by 1906 was already picking up gold medals for the results. The wine which bears his name was first made by the current owners of the house, the Lunelli family, in 1972 and has been produced in the same style ever since. The Riserva del Fondatore is extra brut in style and comes from vineyards on the Pianizza estate located 500m-600m above sea level on the cool side of the river valley. It ages on its lees for 10 years and will happily keep and improve for another decade. Tiny bubbles, with pristine clarity on a nose of toasted hazelnuts, apricot and baked apple with a nuance of bread crust and vanilla. Sumptuous creamy texture, vibrantly fresh and infinitely long.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This is a stunning wine that shows the happy exuberance and carefully contemplated quality that you should expect of one of the best sparkling wines made in Italy—and in the world, for that matter. The 2006 Trento Metodo Classico Extra Brut Giulio Ferrari Riserva del Fondatore starts off with an elegant opening of stone fruit and soft citrus, followed by more elaborate shadings of freshly baked breakfast cornetto and Italian pastry. There is a delicate note of minerality or salinity that frames that core of beautiful fruit. This sparkling wine opens to softly persistent and silky mousse with fine and lasting beading. This Riserva ages on the lees for ten years. It's a true beauty.
Rating: 97+
Other Vintages
2010- Decanter
-
Wine
Enthusiast
- Decanter
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wine
Spectator
-
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wine
Spectator
-
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wine
Spectator
-
Wine
Enthusiast -
Wine
Spectator
Mastering the art of Italian living is not difficult. Simply pop open a bottle of Ferrari, Italy’s most iconic sparkling wine, and you will find luxury, glamour, and undeniable quality in every sip.
Giulio Ferrari, a Trentino native, started his venerable sparkling wine house in 1902, after studying winemaking in France. Convinced that his native region’s terroir was ideal for growing Chardonnay, he produced three of his now best-known cuvées – Ferrari Brut, Perlé and Giulio Ferrari – as blanc de blancs. This innovative approach quickly paid off. Ferrari wines consistently receive some of Italy’s top accolades, including being awarded Tre Bicchieri 22 years in a row.
With its mountain viticulture (the Dolomites), Trentino is an area well-suited to the production of sparkling wines of great elegance and complexity. Large diurnal temperature range and high altitudes ensures high acidity and freshness in the grapes. With 300 acres of vineyards, Ferrari represents the largest estate in the Trentino region.
In 1952, Giulio Ferrari, having no children of his own, chose friend and local merchant Bruno Lunelli as successor for his beloved business. Today, the third generation of the Lunelli family is at the helm. Bruno Lunelli’s passion and entrepreneurial talent passed on to his sons, Franco, Gino and Mauro, who established Ferrari as the market leader in Italy and the nation’s celebratory wine par excellence. Production is in the hands of a capable team of eight winemakers and four agronomists, led by chief winemaker Marcello Lunelli. The pursuit of excellence in all areas of Ferrari production and management is an enduring family legacy with several cousins involved from the new generation: Marcello’s cousin, Matteo Lunelli, is the Chairman of Ferrari F.lli Lunelli SpA, Camilla Lunelli heads up global communications, and Alessandro Lunelli, an engineer by training, is responsible for planning and technical oversight. This generation leads the company with the aim of combining innovation and tradition, promoting Ferrari around the world as ambassadors of the Italian Art of Living.
Representing the topmost expression of a Champagne house, a vintage Champagne is one made from the produce of a single, superior harvest year. Vintage Champagnes account for a mere 5% of total Champagne production and are produced about three times in a decade. Champagne is typically made as a blend of multiple years in order to preserve the house style; these will have non-vintage, or simply, NV on the label. The term, "vintage," as it applies to all wine, simply means a single harvest year.
The southern part of Italy’s northeastern Alpine region, Trentino, produces quality wines from international varieties. But its most exceptional native variety, Teroldego, with plantings concentrated around the sandy, gravelly, limestone soils of its Campo Rotaliano district, makes a deep purple-hued red wine with scents and flavors of wild blackberry, herbs, espresso and cocoa.