October 24, 2024 – Franciacorta has won one of the wine world’s most prestigious recognitions and been elected the International (Non-U.S.) Wine Region of the Year 2024 winner of the Wine Enthusiast Wine Star Awards. The award recognizes Franciacorta’s excellence and its benchmark role in the international wine world.
The Wine Star Awards are designed to recognize extraordinary contributions to the wine industry and this year marks the 25th anniversary of the awards. All 2024 winners will be celebrated on 27 January 2025 at Westin St. Francis in San Francisco at the annual black-tie gala and included in Wine Enthusiast’s Best of Year 2024 issue.
The award is the result of many years of collective work by the Consortium and all its members wine estates to promote the area and constantly improve its wine quality. The victory is a reflection of the success of the Franciacorta brand marketing and positioning strategy, above all in the international market. Key examples of this hard work are the strategic partnerships Franciacorta has formed in the United States with high-profile events such as the Emmy Awards and, most recently, the Michelin Guide USA. These partnerships have reinforced the visibility of the brand and consolidated its status as a Premium Sparkling Wine.
“The award fills us with pride and is further proof that we are moving in the right direction and should continue on it,” said Silvano Brescianini, President of the Franciacorta Consortium. “We know that we still have a long way to go but our achievements, including at the international level, further stimulate our efforts to respect the land whilst pursuing our goal of consolidating Franciacorta’s position as a global benchmark for quality sparkling wines.”
Not only does this consolidate Franciacorta’s leading position in the Italian wine world but it also significantly increases its visibility in the US market and globally, opening the way to new partnerships and growth opportunities. Franciacorta is thus once again Italian excellence ambassador and a benchmark in the top-quality wine world.
Wine Enthusiast
Wine Enthusiast Companies is a Certified B Corporation and the ultimate source of innovation and information around wine. Founded in 1979 by Adam and Sybil Strum, the company is composed of Wine Enthusiast Commerce and Wine Enthusiast Media. Embodying the commerce side, the Wine Enthusiast Shop provides premium wine-lifestyle products, reaching millions of consumers globally via direct mail, an e-commerce site, and a business-to-business division. Representing the media side, Wine Enthusiast magazine is an award-winning print publication and online resource that showcases wine news, food trends, and more than 25,000 ratings and reviews annually. By the end of 2023, WineEnthusiast.com reached 4.5 million monthly pageviews and is the industry leader with the most traffic of any wine media website. Wine Enthusiast events include the annual premier Wine Star Awards gala. Together, Wine Enthusiast Companies is the indisputable hub for everything wine. We bring wine to life.
The Franciacorta Consortium
The Consortium was founded in Corte Franca on 5 March 1990 by 29 producers with a view to ensuring that the Franciacorta wine production regulations are abided by and overseeing them. In 1993 it moved to its current site in Erbusco where it now has around 200 members including vine growers, winemakers and bottlers working in the Franciacorta DOCG, Curtefranca DOC and Sebino IGT appellation production chains. Franciacorta was the first Italian wine produced exclusively with the bottle refermentation process to have obtained the Protected and Guaranteed Designation of Origin (DOCG) denomination in 1995. The Franciacorta Consortium plays a key role in promoting the Franciacorta denomination and the interests of its members and the wine region as a whole. Its functions include monitoring the finished product on the market in accordance with current legislation. This ensures that all wines sold under the Franciacorta denomination respect the high quality standards and technical characteristics dictated by its production regulations. Monitoring respect for the production regulations in the viticulture, winemaking and bottling phases is entrusted to Valoritalia, a third party certification body, and the Consortium ensures that the end product going out to consumers comes up to Franciacorta’s integrity and excellence standards. This reinforces consumer trust in the Franciacorta brand and contributes to safeguarding the authenticity and reputation of one of Italy’s most globally prestigious wines. The Consortium is headed by Silvano Brescianini and has 123 wine estate members.
