The 1996 Franciacorta Brut Cuvee Annamaria Clementi, named for the producer’s mother, is, once again, Italy’s greatest sparkling wine. Made in a deliberately mature style inspired by Bollinger and Pol Roger, its ripe nose of dried apricots, lemon cream, delicate spiciness, and warm wheat crackers is followed by a broad, rich, and substantial palate, ample but still fresh, vibrant, and impressively long and bracing. A sparkling wine which can accompany the entire meal, from soup to nuts, and has no fear of elaborate meat-based courses either.Maurizio Zanella, the founder of Ca’ de Bosco, has won a large group of admirers for what he has accomplished over the past quarter of a century, but has also attracted a certain number of detractors who object to what they consider his excessive flamboyance and vaulting ambition. I am an unambiguous member of the first party, and consider his sparkling wines the finest expression of what Italy can do in this field, worthy competitors to fine French Champagne.