Fratelli Launches The Gran Cuvée Brut

Parent Category: News and Stories

Posted in: Food & Nightlife on Monday, 28 October 2013 10:44

Having recently launched another vintage in their most premium category, the SETTE 2010, and Asia’s first Sangiovese Bianco, Fratelli continues their journey towards setting standards of excellence in the Indian wine industry. The latest addition to Fratelli’s list of offerings is their Sparkling, The Gran Cuvée Brut.

The name ‘Gran Cuvée’ means best white wine of the house, which has been cuveé matured in a cellar, while ‘Brut’ is the style of the wine, which is dry, crisp and citric. Grapes typically used in making sparkling wines are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Chenin Blanc. Due to the wide variety of grapes involved in making sparkling wines, these wines come in many different styles.

The Gran Cuvée Brut is the first Sparkling from the House of Fratelli. It is 100% Chenin Blanc based, created using the method traditionelle, méthode champenoise. As the name suggests, this method of effervescence is similar to that used in the creation of Champagne and quality sparkling wines.

After the primary fermentation, the blend is bottled with yeast and a small quantity of sugar for a second fermentation at the Fratelli winery in Akluj. During the secondary fermentation, the bottles are stored horizontally, maintained at 10° C constantly so that once the second fermentation is over, lees will mature and add complexity to the wine, both on the nose and palate with bready notes. The bottles are then taken through a process known as ‘riddling’ where they are shelved in special racks, called Pupitres,  that hold the bottles at a 45° angle, with the crown pointing downwards. Using Italian machinery, once a day, the bottles are given a slight shake and turned, once to the right, then left, and then dropped back into the Pupitres, with the angle gradually increased. The drop back into the rack gives a slight push, so that the sediments settle towards the neck of the bottle. In 7 days, the position of the bottle is straight down, with the lees settled in the neck. This process of removing the lees is called disgorging.

As the sugar added previously is consumed in the second fermentation process, the next stage is adding another small quantity of sugar to the blend. Piero Masi, Creator of Fratelli Wines, says, “We add a mixture of the base wine and sucrose called liqueur d'expédition to the blend. This is not to make the wine sweet, but to balance the high acidity of the blend. As the name suggests, the wine we have created at Fratelli is called Brut, meaning dry and having very less quantity of sugar.”

Kapil Sekhri, Managing Director, says, “The team at Fratelli has an uncompromising and single-minded determination to produce the best wines in India. Unquestionably, they have outdone themselves to produce one of the finest sparkling in the country, and we hope the wine loving audiences will love the Fratelli Gran Cuvee Brut as much”.

Tasting Notes: The Fratelli Gran Cuvee Brut like a good champagne has typical bready-yeast notes on the nose. The wine has a delicate and creamy texture  with lovely persistent bubbles and a touch of citrus on the pallet, coupled with the typical Fratelli Chenin Blanc minerality.

It also has a nice persistency in the mouth, as well as the glass.

Grape: The Chenin Blanc grapes express typical mineral notes and acidity, perfectly balanced, making this Indian sparkling a surprisingly elegant experience.

Food Pairing: Excellent with sushi, prawns, Oysters, duck spring rolls smoked salmon. Liver pate and creamy chicken dishes.

Serving Temperature:  3° to 7°C.

Availability:
Mumbai- Rs.995/-.
New Delhi – Rs.1050/-.

ABOUT FRATELLI WINES:

‘Fratelli’ which translates to ‘Brothers’ in Italian is an Indo-Italian venture intended to produce the best of wines in the country. Collaboration between three families- the Secci brothers from Italy - Alessio and Andrea, the Sekhri brothers from Delhi – Gaurav and Kapil, and the Mohite-Patil brothers from Akluj – Ranjitsinh and Arjunsinh, under the viticulture and wine-making expertise of PieroMasi, master wine maker from Tuscany, Italy,the partnership intends to bring in Italian wine making tradition coupled with the favorable Indian cultivation terrains to the wine market.

Grown on a trench line of 330km with 350,000 samplings, the Fratelli vineyards are planted with 14 different grape varieties on a combination of 240 acres of virgin land at Akluj spread over three sites – Motewadi, Nimgaon and Garwad. Using the best of the industry plant and machinery houses, the winery houses 58 multi-capacity tanks imported from Velo, Italy, a fully equipped high-tech laboratory for testing at each and every stage of the production process from grapes to finished product. With yields per acre restricted 1/4th of the industry average, the vinery ensures that only the best grapes are harvested and the quality of wine held sacrosanct.

Fratelli has been lauded with many distinguished awards for their consistency, quality standards and excellence at the best of International platforms. The awards come in after being present for just two and a half years in the market, a remarkable achievement for the brand.

The house of Fratelli has been steadily gaining International recognition and bringing Indian wines to the forefront.

Being the second largest most distributed wine brand in India, Fratelli is now present in 14 states with 17 varietals on offer and also exports to 4 countries – Italy, United Kingdom, Netherlands and Japan.