Biography
In 1975, when he began to purchase land and vineyards in Franciacorta in and around the town of Erbusco, Vittorio Moretti’s intentions were to construct a house for himself and his family, and not for nothing he purchased on the hill of Bellavista, so named for the spectacular view it enjoyed. He had another project in mind as well, however: that of producing bottles of fine wine to give to customers and suppliers at Christmas time. At the time he was simply an entrepreneur in the construction business, born in Florence, a resident for twenty years in Milan, a man who had decided to live in the countryside his family had originated from. Founder and director of an important business specializing in prefabricated units for the building industry, he had perhaps forgotten to have the blood of the countryside in his veins. But he soon realized, and soon changed his mind: in 1977 he created the Bellavista viticultural firm with the explicit objective of producing high-level sparkling wine capable of competing with fine Champagne. Today he can well say to have triumphed in his challenge: he owns close to 470 acres of vineyards which allow him to produce 1.1 million bottles in his ultra-modern and efficient cellars. But, what is more important, his has become an internationally important brand.
His success has been gained by putting together an important patrimony of resources, not only technical and viticultural, but human as well: since 1980 he has been assisted, first as a consultant and then as full-time oenologist, by Mattia Vezzola, a very talented winemaker. It is with him that he created and refined the range of wines which has allowed Bellavista to achieve exceptional quality levels. The regular Franciacorta, the Gran Cuvée Brut, dry and soft, the Pas Operé, very dry, the Satèn, delicate and lightly sparkling, and the Rosé, with its aromas of raspberries are all among Italy’s finest sparkling wines. And his non-sparkling wines are at the same level, above all the sumptuous Uccellanda and the concentrated Convento della Santissima Annunciata: both 100% Chardonnay, they enjoy a well deserved prestige. All begins with an almost obsessive attention to the raw materials: the grapes are hand picked, pressed and fermented separately, vineyard plot by vineyard plot in order to maintain the integrity of the individual character of each selection. To insure the maximum genuiness of the wines, Moretti, aided by Vezzola, has succeeded in realizing one of his dreams, eliminating, within the limits of what is possible, all chemical treatments in the vineyard and in the cellar. He produces, in short, biological wine, but without proclaiming it on his labels.