A visit at Ca ' del Bosco was the cherry on top. But the core of the visit was a fabulous tasting of 18 different sparkling wines made in the traditional method from this wonderful region of Northern Italy.

Perhaps Italy's best kept secret, the latest stats show that it only exports 14% of its wines outside of Italy. A mind-boggling number considering the very high quality of the wines & the incredibly high value for money they represent.

Here is a region where producers have decided among themselves to go beyond the requirements of the appellation & accept more stringent quality standards that were requested by the "disciplinare". Today, these standards are by far more stringent than Champagne & the wines are well on their way to become a powerful voice in the sparkling wine markets all over the world.

Franciacorta, not far from Milan benefit from an ideal climate that enables the 117 producers to make ripe wines yet retain a lively acidity that caress the palate. The wine can acheive such a good natural balance that the dosage does not need high levels of sugar making the wines smooth but tense at the same time.

As I observed this after-noon, to me, Franciacorta embodies perfectly, from an oriental prespective, the concept of yin & yang & from my perspective, the ideal interplay between voluptousness & tension...

A very sensual wine!