Moscato di Scanzo DOCG Italy
We were off on our first trip into Italian wine country before the Wine Media Conference in Lombardia. On the road, our little bus heading from Milan to Bergamo was filled with wine writers chattering excitedly.
As we approached Bergamo, the little bus left the freeway traffic and began surfing the serpentine two-lane roads of the region’s hills. The hills are lush and green, and trees are sweeping in a blur as we take turns. Expansive views of the landscape to the south fan out before us one moment, followed by peeks into tiny valleys tucked in between the hills as the road hairpins back on itself.
At last, we turn down a steep driveway into a property called Martinì Col di Paste. As we pull down the driveway, a magnificent little valley opens in front of us. It was picture postcard perfect. This was our destination, the valley of the Moscato di Scanzo DOCG.
Francesca Pagnoncelli Folcieri
First to greet us was a petite woman casually dressed in sneakers and blue jeans. She had a halo of short crazy curls and wore sunglasses. I immediately liked her. This was Francesca Pagnoncelli Folcieri, the President of the Consorzio di Tutela Moscato di Scanzo. Her energy is authentic, and she is immensely proud of this place and its wines.
Francesca’s family has been in Scanzorosciate (the town that gives Moscato di Scanzo its name) since the mid-1800s. Her grandfather, Giancarlo Pagnoncelli Folcieri, was a third-generation pharmacist. In 1962, he made his first wines from a vineyard known then as “The Parish Priest’s Vineyard.” Now, it is known as “The Pharmacist’s Vineyard.” Her father Maurizio, also a Pharmacist now supervises the vineyard and Francesca, who now farms the vineyard with her husband, is the Pharmacist’s Daughter.
We sip some sparkling wines, and Francesca pours a delicious Moscato Beer as we take in the view. All 31 hectares of vineyards in this little valley are spread out picturesquely before us at Martini Col di Paste.
As we stroll through the vineyards, I strike up an easy conversation with a young woman who I would later find out was Francesca’s daughter. She shares a wealth of information on local plants and the region’s history with me. Casual and comfortable in our chat as we stroll, you would think we had known each other for a while.
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Moscato di Scanzo is a rare and highly prized red passito wine (dessert wine made from dried grapes) originating from the Lombardy region of Italy. Unlike most Moscato wines, which are typically white, Moscato di Scanzo is made from a distinctive, dark-skinned Moscato grape variety grown in the hills around the town of Scanzorosciate, near Bergamo.
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