Medium gold color; bread, yellow apple, white flowers on the nose; yellow apple, citrus, hazelnut on the palate.
Brut; crisp with bright acidity. Persistent tiny bubbles. Very smooth and tasty. Nice minerality. Made with 100% chardonnay grapes from the hills of Isera, in the Trento region of Italy—northwest of Venice, due north of Verona. The wine matured for more than 38 months on yeasts, giving this impressive complexity and excellent mouthfeel.
Cantina d’Isera traces its roots back to 1907—thus the label. Located in the mountainous Trentino province of the northernmost part of Italy bordering Lombardy to the west and Veneto to the south and east, Trentino was part of the Hapsburg Empire when grape growers established the “Cantina Sociale”. Today, more than 150 growers participate, farming almost 500 acres. Their website asserts two tenets. The first is one shared across the wine world: “A good wine is born in the vineyard.” The second is shared with quality makers: “Quality does not accept compromises.”
From the second tenet flows a pledge: “[our maxim] represents for the Cantina d’Isera an obligation, a commitment to the consumers and the guarantee to enjoy, appreciate and love the wines created from the passion of man and the generosity of the hills of Isera.”
The winery is particularly proud of its craggy terrain at the foothills of the Dolomites. It asserts its vines are perfectly suited for this unforgiving land, and the terroir gives its wines their special character: “The rugged geography, mild days, and cool nights produce outstanding wines that balance the advantages of new technologies with the wisdom of ancient traditions.”
Cantina d’Isera 1907 Brut Riserva Trento DOC NV is palate-pleasing bubbly from somewhat obscure wine region in northeastern Italy. Nicely complex. Very persistent bubbles—always a good thing in sparkling wine. Best use as aperitif. Made only with chardonnay grapes only. Delivers excellent acidity. As with almost all well-made sparkling wine, it will pair with almost any food. $29
