Manufacturer: Conti D'Arco

Riserva Nicolò d’Arco
metodo classico

The Trentino boasts of an illustrious sparkling wine tradition. The Cantine Mezzacorona, one of the most important wine businesses in the region, make for Gruppo Italiano Vini the classico brut wines obtained from grapes from vineyards around the Castle of Arco, an historic town in the area of Trento classico. These sparkling wines bear the name of the Conti d’Arco (counts of Arco), the noble family which owns the castle which, from the rock of Arco, dominates the valley between Lake Garda and the Brenta Dolomites. Production began in 1988 under the rules of the denominazione di origine controllata Trento, reserved exclusively for sparkling wine made by the method of secondary fermentation in bottle.

Grapes: 90-95% chardonnay; 5-10% pinot nero.

Vineyard: selected parcels on the most acclaimed hills of the Arco valley (from 200 to 300 metres altitude), where already the Austro-Hungarian Empire had encouraged the selection of the purest vine varieties; the terrain, of glacial-morainic origin, is loose and well drained; the climate is airy, with a significant temperature range during the ripening period, which ensures the grapes have plenty of acidity and aromas; the system of training is the simple pergola trentina, with a density of 3.500 vines per hectare.

Vinification: the grapes, picked during the first ten days of September and immediately gently pressed, are traditionally vinified by the white wine method at a controlled temperature; half of the base wine also completes the malolactic fermentation; the sparkling wine process is carried out by the traditional classico method, in bottle.

Maturation: the “prise de mousse” (secondary fermentation) is caused by the transformation to carbon dioxide during the alcoholic refermentation of the selected yeasts added to the base wine in bottle; the process lasts at least 36 months until the “disgorgement”, which is indicated on the label, together with the year of the vintage.

Wine: lively white foam; very delicate bubbles, continuous and steady; bright, pale gold colour; intense, very fine bouquet with definite notes of flowers (hawthorn, artemisia, almond) and of yeast (bread crusts) and with hints of apples, bay leaves and cedar; dry clean, particularly elegant and well balanced flavour with a distinguished aftertaste of white peaches and almonds which lingers for a long time in the mouth.

Analytical details: 12.3% alcohol; 6.50g/l total acidity; 3.10 pH; 9 g/l residual sugar; 19 g/l extract.

Optimum keeping: 3 years in bottles stored horizontally in cool, dark conditions.

Food matches: as an aperitif and with all delicate foods (excluding cakes and pastries.)

Serving temperature: 8°C.