5 Minutes With... Silvia Franco

While there are literally thousands of DOC Prosecco producers in the regions of Veneto and Friuli, only a handful stand out for wines of significant quality. Nino Franco, established by Antonio Franco in 1919, is one of these few.

Located in Valdobbiadene in Veneto, the estate is one of the oldest in the district. Although it has been making for close to a hundred years, the winery was never a particularly notable producer, until Primo Franco took over the property in 1982. He adopted a two-pronged approach in building an international reputation for the brand — he refined the quality of the output through careful viticulture and estate management, and aggressively marketed the wines abroad. 

Today, Primo is joined by his 30-year-old daughter Silvia, who aims to build on her father’s work and further enhance the name of Nino Franco as a producer of premium quality Prosecco.

We’re still family-owned and operated. My father is still the boss of the company, while my mother takes care of the bed-and-breakfast on the property.

We take effort in maintaining very good relationship with our grape growers, because the quality of the wine is very much dependent on the quality of the grapes. We also like to give our grape growers a say in the viticulture. 

Prosecco and Champagne are two different wines altogether. There are different ways to enjoy them — Prosecco is refreshing, young, and easy to drink. It’s an everyday wine.

Nino my grandfather passed away 30 years ago. Through his constant travels, my father had a very good idea what winemakers in other parts of the world were doing, and that helped to improve the quality of our wines. 

I have the DNA of Nino Franco, but I also have an individuality of expression. We aim to keep the consistency of the wines, but we also want to make it better. We don’t aim for our wines to be everywhere; we just want them at the right places and drunk by the right people.

I have been to Singapore many times. The food here is amazing, but I have never had the opportunity to tour the city. I enjoy coming back to Ku De Ta; I think it is an amazing place.

Nino Franco is available through ewineasia.com

More Stories:

• Senso summer black truffle prosecco brunch
• So you want to be a Bordeaux winemaker? 
• A nifty wine preservation system for the home