Jacob Gragg, Portfolio Fine Wine Specialist
Jacob’s quest for quality, desire to educate, and passion for the finer things in life led him to join the group at Ca’ del Bosco in 2019, and he’s been sharing his love for Franciacorta ever since. His journey in wine, however, began in Georgia many years ago. In 2009, he set the goal of passing the Master Sommelier exam and garnered experience, most notably as the Sommelier at Aria Restaurant in Atlanta and as Sommelier of The Georgian Room at the Cloister in Sea Island.
After the intense restaurant experience, Jacob spent five years as an ambassador for a renowned Italian producer. He earned his Advanced Sommelier from the Court of Master Sommeliers at the age of 24, making him one of the youngest to have achieved this certification. In addition, Jacob is a Certified Specialist of Wine and a Certified Specialist of Spirits. Wine & Spirits magazine named him one of the Best New Sommeliers of 2012. He is also the Founding President of the Southeastern Sommelier Society.
Ca’ del Bosco
Located in the province of Brescia in the Italy’s Lombardy area, Ca’ del Bosco, founded in 1969, is an icon of Italy’s Franciacorta region. The winery’s state-of-the-art cellar, unique in Franciacorta, allows the winemaking team to produce the best wines possible and of the highest quality. Ca’ del Bosco’s wines have collectively earned 41 “Tre Bicchieri” awards by Italy’s Gambero Rosso, since 1998, the second-highest awarded winery in history by the publication, and are well known as some of the finest sparkling wines in the world.
Ca ’del Bosco stands for listening to Nature, for giving it a chance to express itself in every form with the help of man, who acts as the custodian of an extraordinary legacy – using the land without using it up. The Ca’ del Bosco Method results in products that find their identity only through an investment in the land that yields them, leading naturally to the adoption of organic viticulture. And so it is Nature that decides. Ca’ del Bosco only helps it along because their wine is already in the vineyards, just like Michelangelo’s David was already in the block of Carrara marble. Nature is power, and wine is its expression: Maurizio Zanella and his family are the custodians of the transition from power to expression.
Ca’ del Bosco stands for innovation, in the sense of finding the best way to turn the forms of Nature (the vineyards) into a form of Culture (wine). To listen to the reality and complexity of Nature, Ca’ del Bosco invests in innovation, research, and technology so that man’s knowledge will exalt the soil’s potential. Washing grapes and eliminating contact with oxygen through new, patented methods is the exact opposite of an intrusion of technology in rural customs: it means eliminating all that which is superfluous or artificial, which interferes with our understanding of the esthetic potential of our lands.
Ca’ del Bosco stands for investing in art, in the integration between concrete matter and spiritual consciousness. An impressive coterie of artists, photographers and writers have collaborated with us on cultural and educational projects, and it is our hope that this will not only continue but expand. We aspire to animate the idea and the passion for detail and the defense of beauty, the story and the narration of the spiritual composition of our wines through alternative communication channels that promote biodiversity and the local environment.
l’Eté du Vin: Celebrating 45 years with wines from the 45th Parallel