Lucrezia Etichetta Nera 2004: Twenty Years of Patience in a Franciacorta

Posted by Rowena Dumlao Rowena Dumlao - Giardina 10/07/2026

Lucrezia Etichetta Nera 2004: Twenty Years of Patience in a Franciacorta

I have tasted my share of Franciacorta over the years, yet only a few have made me pause and consider just how profoundly time can transform a sparkling wine. Lucrezia Etichetta Nera 2004 is certainly among them.

I attended its presentation at the Rome Planetarium, where the setting naturally brought wine and astronomy together. But what interested me far more than the unusual venue was the wine itself: a 2004 vintage that had spent an extraordinary part of its life ageing on its lees before finally being released.

It offers a completely different perspective on Franciacorta, and indeed on the way we think about sparkling wine in general.

The evening brought together Castello Bonomi's winemaking team, astrophysicist Gianluca Masi and chef Gianfranco Pascucci. Yet throughout the presentation, I found myself returning to the same question: what happens to a wine when you simply allow it to keep evolving?

When Patience Becomes Part of the Winemaking

Lucrezia represents Castello Bonomi's range of Franciacorta Riservas, made only when the vintage offers the qualities required for extended ageing. Its story began in 1999, when engineer Marino Bonomi, founder and former owner of the estate, produced the winery's first Franciacorta Riserva and gave it the name of his granddaughter.

Paladin family

The Etichetta Nera is devoted entirely to Pinot Noir, sourced from the estate's oldest vineyards on Monte Orfano. The 2004 vintage proved to have the structure and potential for an unusually long evolution.

After more than five years on its lees, Luigi Bersini, Castello Bonomi's chef de cave, chose to retain a small portion of the wine instead of releasing the entire production.

I find that decision particularly compelling. It is easy to speak about patience in wine, but quite another thing to deliberately postpone a release for years, trusting that the wine will continue to develop rather than decline. That takes confidence in both the vintage and the winemaking.

Castello Bonomi chose to wait. And wait some more.

The wine eventually presented in 2026 is Lucrezia Etichetta Nera 2004, a Franciacorta Extra Brut Riserva made entirely from Pinot Noir and limited to 250 numbered bottles.

The Vineyard Behind the Wine

The Pinot Noir originates from Castello Bonomi's oldest vineyards on the terraces of Monte Orfano in Coccaglio. Across the estate, 35 hectares are divided into 39 parcels and six distinct crus, with the different vineyard sites managed and vinified separately.

For the Etichetta Nera, the grapes come specifically from the Terrazze vineyard, planted in 1985. Its predominantly limestone soils and naturally low yields are important elements in providing the concentration, acidity and structure required for long ageing.

In the cellar, the approach is equally precise. The grapes are softly pressed, with only the first pressing used for the Riserva. Following the initial fermentation, the wine remained on its lees for eight months before blending and secondary fermentation in bottle in May 2005.

From that point, the most important ingredient was no longer a cellar intervention, but time.

What Two Decades Have Done

The 2004 surprised me from the first sip. Rather than showing the heaviness or loss of energy that can sometimes accompany very mature sparkling wines, it retained a fine, persistent perlage and a remarkably composed acidity.

Its aromatic evolution was equally interesting. Candied citrus and ripe yellow fruit, including a suggestion of ripe pineapple, emerged first. These were joined by conifer and rosemary, followed by hazelnut and increasingly toasted nuances as the wine opened.

On the palate, the savoury character was immediately noticeable. The herbal and fruity elements returned, while the finish brought a distinctive toasted hazelnut-butter character.

For me, the most impressive aspect was its freshness. There is still a vibration on the palate that I would associate with a considerably younger sparkling wine. The long ageing has added complexity without suppressing the wine's energy.

It is mature, undoubtedly, but not tired. In fact, I felt that this was a particularly rewarding moment to open it, when its different layers had come together without losing their vitality.

This is the distinction I find important with extended ageing. Age alone does not make a wine more interesting. The real achievement is when time adds aromatic and textural complexity while the wine retains its balance and identity.

The technical figures tell an extraordinary story: 242 months of ageing on the lees, followed by disgorgement in July 2025 and another 15 months of bottle ageing.

But these are no longer just numbers once the wine is in the glass. You can actually sense the time in the glass.

Roberto Paladin, Carlo Paladin and Luigi Bersini

Three Expressions of the Lucrezia Style

The tasting became even more revealing when the 2004 was compared with the Lucrezia Etichetta Nera 2011 and Etichetta Bianca 2011.

The 2011 Etichetta Nera is also 100% Pinot Noir, with 140 months on the lees. I found it distinctly more youthful than the 2004, showing pastry and brioche alongside yellow stone fruits and red berries, followed by aromatic herbal notes.

The Etichetta Bianca offered a completely different profile. Lucrezia Etichetta Bianca 2011 combines 80% Chardonnay and 20% Pinot Noir. The Chardonnay was fermented and aged in French oak barriques with bâtonnage, while the Pinot Noir was fermented in stainless steel. Following secondary fermentation in bottle, the wine remained on its lees for 144 months.

Here, I found greater breadth and volume. Bread crust, white-fleshed fruit and citrus were followed by dried fruit, light honey, dried hay and chamomile. The palate brought together freshness and sapidity, maintaining a good sense of balance and persistence.

Putting the two 2011 wines side by side was particularly useful. Same estate, same philosophy and extended ageing, but two very different interpretations of grape variety and wine.

Exploring Beyond the Traditional Franciacorta

The tasting also included Cuvée 1564 Brut Nature Millesimato 2018, composed of 45% Chardonnay, 45% Pinot Noir and 10% Erbamat, with more than 60 months of ageing.

The Erbamat immediately caught my attention. Castello Bonomi has been studying and working with this historic indigenous variety since 2010, contributing to the wider effort within Franciacorta to explore and restore its potential.

The 2018 offered floral aromas followed by citrus and mineral aromas. Its acidity gave the wine a clear sense of precision and definition, while the finish remained elegant and dry.

It is quite removed stylistically from the Lucrezia Riservas, but that was precisely what made it interesting. It demonstrated that Franciacorta is not a static category, and that there is still considerable scope for experimentation within the denomination.

A Meeting of Wine and Astronomy

The Planetarium setting eventually became more meaningful than I had expected. Beneath its 14-metre dome, Gianluca Masi, astrophysicist at the Rome Planetarium, reconstructed the sky as it appeared during the summer of 2004.

Looking at that particular moment in the night sky and then tasting a wine originating from the same vintage created an interesting parallel. Both were connected to a precise point in time, but the wine carried that moment forward through years of fermentation, ageing on the lees, disgorgement and bottle development.

For sparkling wine, the vintage is only the starting point. The length of time spent on the lees and the subsequent bottle ageing after disgorgement can profoundly influence texture, aromatic development and structural balance.

With the Lucrezia Etichetta Nera 2004, those years are evident. The extended lees ageing has encouraged the development of tertiary complexity, yet the wine's Pinot Noir fruit, acidity and savoury character have remained clearly present.

The disgorgement in July 2025 marked another stage in its evolution, followed by further bottle ageing. What I found particularly pleasing was that the ageing had integrated rather than masked the wine's original character.

Dinner by Gianfranco Pascucci followed, giving us another opportunity to taste the wines in a different context. Yet even after the meal, I found myself thinking about the 2004.

It left me with a simple but rather profound thought: time is not simply a figure on a technical sheet. It is part of the winemaking itself.