Lombardy

Introduction

Lombardy, Italy's most populous region and home to Milan, is best known in wine circles for Franciacorta — Italy's answer to Champagne and its most celebrated traditional-method sparkling wine. Beyond the bubbles, Lombardy's varied alpine and lakeside terrain supports a surprisingly diverse range of still wines.

Terroir and Winemaking

Franciacorta, produced south of Lake Iseo using the same second-fermentation-in-bottle method as Champagne, is made from Chardonnay, Pinot Nero and Pinot Bianco, yielding wines of real structure and finesse that rival top French sparklers. In the alpine north, Valtellina produces elegant, high-altitude Nebbiolo (locally called Chiavennasca) from terraced vineyards along the Adda river. Near Lake Garda, Lugana offers crisp, mineral whites from the Turbiana grape, rounding out a region whose winemaking identity is defined as much by dramatic geography as by any single grape variety.