Every stage in the production of Dosage Zéro Noir is carried out with the utmost rigour. This painstaking, uncompromising procedure begins in the vineyard. The grapes are picked by hand in small cases, transferred at once to the cellar, tracked by vineyard of provenance and chilled. Each bunch is hand-selected by expert cellar workers. The pinot nero berry has colourless pulp and black skin.
To make the base wine for Dosage Zéro Noir, it is crucial that the juice extracted – the must – should remain pale or slightly pink in colour. Pressing is performed at strictly low pressure so that the grapeskin is undamaged and does not yield its colour compounds. The resulting musts ferment in small oak barrels. Barrel maturation lasts for just five months to coax out maximum aromatic complexity and expressive power without jeopardising elegance. A pair of flying tanks enables the wines to be gravity-racked from the small oak casks into maturation tanks. At the end of one further month ageing in steel, the three base wines from the three vineyards of provenance are blended to achieve a perfect balance of subtlety, tension, body and fragrance. The pinot nero grape imparts its complex red berry fruits aromas to the wine along with body, longevity and persistence on the palate. The magic of terroir and the skill of the winegrowers have come together to produce a wine of outstanding purity. Dosage Zéro Noir will need eight years’ ageing to reach its peak of quality and develop the distinctive array of aromatics that make it so unique. Rightly, this Franciacorta is set apart by its noble title of “Riserva”. Disgorgement of Dosage Zéro Noir takes place in an oxygen-free environment thanks to a unique system designed and patented by Ca’ del Bosco, an approach that renders our Franciacortas purer and even more appealing. We wanted this blanc de noir to express massive personality and convey the character of the terroir that brought it forth so we left it undosed and did not add any liqueur d’expédition at disgorgement. Every bottle released is given an individual marking to ensure its traceability.