Varieties and vineyards

The winery currently has some 40 hectares of estate vineyards (30 to white grapes and 10 to red), subdivided into about 15 blocks that surround the winery complex and make harvest operations easier by ensuring a staggered arrival of grapes to the cellar for pressing and fermentation.

The varieties are:

  • DOCG grapes: Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir
  • DOC grapes: Cabernet (Franc and Sauvignon), Merlot, Nebbiolo, Barbera.
The vineyard soils, in an area of moraine deposits, are more calcareous than clay, and moderately deep. The vineyards generally face east-southeast and are planted on the Fantecolo hills. In the lower areas are the vineyards which yield fruit marked out for Franciacorta sparkling wine; gradually ascending the slope, one finds the vineyards whose grapes go to the Terre di Franciacorta Riserva.

All of the estate vineyards are located in the area of Passirano. They are cultivated without any fertilisers, herbicides, or insecticides, in deliberate adherence to European Union Law 2078/94 (now called Misura F), which contains strict regulations concerning environmental impacts.

The following vineyards yield white grapes:
  • Campolarga
  • Tirù
  • Brolo
  • Dosso Sud
  • Dosso Nord
  • Limbo
  • Roccolino
  • Mosnel
  • Tesa
  • Camilì
  • Larga nord
  • Giardino
The following vineyards yield red grapes:
  • Frusca
  • Fortunato
  • Travaino
  • Roccolo rosso
From 1985 on, the vineyards, both those already-established as well as those acquired later, were extensively re-structured, re-trained from the excessively productive Sylvoz system to the spur-pruned cordon-trained system, at a medium-high density between 4,000 and 8,000 vines per hectare, a system Il Mosnel was first to adopt in Franciacorta. Equal attention was paid to holding down the average yield per vine, currently about two kilos, and to more planting of more suitable clones, for example those selected from Burgundy for the Pinot Noir IGT Sebino.

The average age of the vineyards is presently about 20 years for the oldest, to six years for those planted most recently.

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