Classic Method: The Value of Waiting

We live in a world that runs fast. Everything has to be quick, immediate, ready straight away.

Wine, however, when it wants to tell a deeper story, needs another language: the language of time.

The Classic Method begins exactly here: with a choice of patience, precision and waiting. It is not simply a way of making sparkling wine. It is a long journey, made up of rigorous technical steps, but also of sensitivity, listening and trust in the wine.

Because in the Classic Method one thing is certain: there is no quality without time spent on the lees.

What is the Classic Method?

The Classic Method is the traditional method used to produce some of the most complex and elegant sparkling wines.

Its distinctive feature is that the second fermentation — the one that naturally creates the bubbles — takes place directly in the bottle.

After the first fermentation, the base wine is bottled with a small addition of sugars and yeasts. From that moment, a new slow and silent fermentation begins, transforming the wine and guiding it through its evolution.

This is when the wine truly begins to change: the bubbles become more integrated, the sip becomes finer, and the wine gains depth.

Time on the lees: when the wine seems still, but is becoming great

After the prise de mousse, the bottles remain resting on their lees.

From the outside, it looks like an immobile phase: stacked bottles, silence, time passing.

In reality, it is one of the most important moments in the whole process.

During lees ageing, the wine builds structure, complexity, creaminess and aromatic depth. Once their fermentative work is done, the yeasts slowly begin to release substances into the wine, enriching its texture, persistence and mouthfeel.

It is only an apparent stillness.

Inside the bottle, a great deal is happening.

The wine stretches out, refines itself, changes its breath. The simplest notes become more layered, the bubbles become finer, and the palate gains volume. This is where a Classic Method wine stops being simply fresh and fragrant, and begins to become a wine capable of telling the story of time.

Why make Classic Method with Lambrusco Salamino?

For us, working with the Classic Method also means making a precise choice of identity.

Maso is made from Lambrusco Salamino grapes, a variety deeply rooted in our land. It is a generous, vertical grape, capable of giving colour, energy, acidity and tension.

Bringing it into the world of Classic Method sparkling wine means trying to express it in a different form: slower, deeper, more essential.

Maso is a rosé Classic Method because it comes from a gentle pressing of the grapes, without seeking the power of colour, but rather the finesse of expression. What interests us is the most elegant side of Salamino: the fruit, the freshness, the vibrant acidity, and its ability to withstand time.

It is a wine that looks to the tradition of our territory, but does so with a new voice.

The new disgorgements of Maso

With the new disgorgements of Maso, we have chosen to present three different moments of the same wine.

Three vintages, three periods of lees ageing, three different ways of interpreting Lambrusco Salamino Classic Method.

Not a ranking, not a contest where “more months is better”.

Rather, three different snapshots of the wine’s evolution.

Maso 24 months – 2023 vintage

The 24-month version, 2023 vintage, is the most immediate, floral and agile.

This Maso preserves great drinkability, with a more direct and fragrant profile. The fruit is lively, the sip is smooth, and the bubbles accompany without weighing it down.

It is the easiest version to approach, the one that tells the story of Classic Method in its brightest and most spontaneous dimension.

A wine for aperitivo, for celebration, for a glass that calls for another sip without needing too many explanations.

Maso 48 months – 2021 vintage

With the 48-month version, 2021 vintage, Maso changes pace.

The wine gains awareness. The freshness remains, but it is enriched with depth. The time on the lees becomes more clearly perceptible: the palate becomes broader, the bubbles more integrated, the sip more layered.

Here, Salamino reveals a more mature and complex side, without losing its energy.

It is a wine that has already travelled through an important stretch of time and gives it back in balance: more nuanced, more gastronomic, more capable of accompanying food.

Maso 60 months – 2020 vintage

The 60-month version, 2020 vintage, is the deepest and most ambitious.

Five years on the lees take the wine into a different dimension: creaminess becomes evident, the structure grows more important, and technical precision can be felt in the clarity of the sip.

Acidity remains the protagonist, supporting the wine with strength, lift and verticality. This is not simple freshness: it is a tension that holds together substance, elegance and persistence.

Maso 60 months is the wine of fulfilled waiting. The one in which time has not merely passed: it has entered the wine, shaped it, and made it more complex and profound.

Three disgorgements, one single idea

Presenting these three versions of Maso together means telling the story of the Classic Method for what it truly is: a journey.

The same grape, Lambrusco Salamino.
The same starting idea.
Three different times of evolution.

The 24 months speaks of freshness and immediacy.
The 48 months speaks of balance and depth.
The 60 months speaks of creaminess, structure and tension.

Three different expressions of a single project: to show that Lambrusco too can inhabit long ageing, complexity and finesse.

Time is not a detail

In the Classic Method, time is not a technical detail. It is an ingredient.

You cannot see it, weigh it, or declare it on the label like a grape variety or a vintage. But you can feel it.

You feel it in the finer bubbles, in the fuller mouthfeel, in the persistence, in the depth of the sip. You feel it when the wine is not merely pleasant, but continues to evolve in the glass.

For us, this is why Maso is also a declaration of intent.

In a time that demands speed, we chose to wait.

And now we are ready to share that waiting with you.