Antica Fratta

About Winery and Wines

In all likelihood things, as well as people, have a written destiny; or at least this is what one believes when looking back at the history of this Villa. It owes its present aristocratic appearance to two restructuring procedures, each carried out a century apart. The winery was built in the Fratta area of Monticelli Brusati, and was already held in high regard in the mid-1800s. In the second half of the nineteenth century, Sir Luigi Rossetti, a wealthy merchant from the local area, turned a farmhouse (presumably dating back to the 16th century) into his elegant mansion, as well as the headquarters of his wine trade, for which he built the beautiful wine cellars carved out by digging into the rocky hill behind the Villa. With four tunnels arranged in the form of a Greek cross, it could hold a good six thousand hectolitres of wine, which was a vast amount for that time. Hence the nickname given to it by the locals: "el cantinù," meaning 'the great cellar'.After Rossetti's death, there was a slow decline and everything seemed to be over. Then, in the late '70s, another man "of wine" burst into the "life" of the Villa: Franco Ziliani – patron of the Guido Berlucchi company – visited the winery, and despite finding it in dismal conditions, he grasped the enormous charm and uniqueness of the cellars. After a series of major consolidation, reconstruction and restoration works, the villa and the garden, with its characteristic ridges sloping down the hill, are yet again able to welcome and amaze visitors, immersing them in the hospitable warmth of rooms furnished with simple elegance.1979 saw the establishment of the new Antica Fratta project, aimed at restoring the winery to its former glory. Today Antica Fratta "relaunches" with new and greater ambitions, with the firm intention of becoming the "essence" of Franciacorta.

Long experience has taught that the quality of a wine is created above all in the vineyard that yielded it. Determining elements, therefore, are the individual clone of the grapevines, density of vines per hectare, low yield per vine, and hand picking of the clusters at precisely the right degree of ripeness. A gentle pressing comes next, so that only the free-run must can be used, and then a slow, low-temperature fermentation, which preserves intact the grape’s delicate natural aromas. Following the fermentation, the wines from the various vineyards are tasted, to evaluate their characteristics and to blend the assemblage. The final cuvée is then given a liqueur de tirage, a syrup made of some of the same wine plus cultured yeasts and cane sugar, and the wine is bottled with special metal caps. The yeasts thereafter transform the sugars into alcohol and CO2, a natural biological process creating the effervescence that gives Franciacorta its bubbles. To facilitate this, the bottles are laid down horizontally, and they rest a minimum of two years in the cellar, at a constant 100C.