Ca' del Bosco Anna Maria Clementi 2014

When wine is this good you must stop and just appreciate how much work goes into making something so delicious. The wine opens with spiced apples, freshly baked pastry dough, acacia honey, oak spice and wet stone. The palate is giving yet still holding back with stone fruit showing through with hints of hazelnut, cream and ginger. Drink now–2035.

Bright straw yellow with light golden reflections and a fine, persistent mousse. On the nose, initial notes of ham and cold smoke, then buttered pastries, oak and citrus notes with a subtle hint of milk chocolate. On the palate, initially somewhat closed, then with a little temperature, a compact core of fruit, a creamy texture, punchy with vivid acidity and a perky mousse, currently still very young but very enjoyable.

The Ca' del Bosco 2014 Franciacorta Riserva Annamaria Clementi Dosage Zéro (a blend of 76% Chardonnay, 15% Pinto Nero and 9% Pinot Bianco) ferments in small oak casks for six months and matures on the lees for eight long years. The bouquet is immediately beautiful with baked apple, brioche, pastry cream and something a little spicy, like a pinch of saffron, that gives extra pop. It shows a mid-weight mouthfeel with a whole other set of almond and bitter lemon flavors. This elegant Franciacorta manages a careful dance between nose and palate.