Ferrari - Perlé Trento Brut Rosé 2013

More than 100 years ago, Giulio Ferrari, the founder of Ferrari Trento went to visit the Champagne region to buy from Bollinger for his own consumption. He discovered that Chardonnay grows so well in the chalky soil that is typical of both Champagne and the Trento mountains that he decided in 1902 to plant Chardonnay and start producing his own sparkling wine with the same grape and the same method of Champagne (including the second fermentation in the bottle). The ambition was clear: to compete with the best French Champagne. The wines produced were fine but had limited distribution and the production volumes were small.

In 1952, Bruno Lunelli, owner of Trento’s most renowned wine bar, acquired the Ferrari winery. Founder Giulio Ferrari would continue to oversee the winery until his death. Bruno Lunelli increased the production of these exquisite and highly anticipated wines to reach a hundred thousand bottles a year. His successors, the Lunelli brothers and sister, are leaders in the Italian production of Metodo Classico, and they recently transformed their farming practices to be organic.

The Ferrari Brut is made with 100% Chardonnay, picked by hand, and aged on lees for 24 months with Ferrari’s own yeasts. The grapes are grown in the Val d’Adige, Val di Cembar, and the Vallei dei Laghi, in vineyards with South-East and South-West exposures in the mountains of Trentino.

If you are looking for a sparkling wine that is made with the same process as the wines from Champagne but is more affordable, look no further: quality, finesse, and value are the hallmark of Ferrari wines.