How do we like to define ourselves?
Guardians of the land.
Territory
The region
The mountain ranges that make up the Dolomites, a World Heritage Site, are found between the Veneto, Trentino-Alto Adige and Friuli-Venezia Giulia regions and delineate a landscape of extraordinary beauty.
A unique environment where the exceptional natural context blends seamlessly with the history of the men who have passed through and lived in these mountains and to those who continue to do so.
It is a land of passage, gateway between the Mediterranean and continental Europe, but also a captivating area that for millennia has led human communities to settle in the valleys, protected by the embrace of the peaks and constantly stimulated by the vital boost of their dizzying verticality.
The ancient grape-growing and wine culture flourishing mainly in the area of Trentino and Alto Adige has acquired unique nuances, echoing the men and the mountains, changing as the light that bounces off the surfaces at various times of day, in different seasons.
Around the tenth century, the production of quality wine began to develop, encouraged by the Church and by trade with Central Europe.
+ Viticulture in the Dolomites
+ Limestone and Silica
+ The Tyrolean Grey
The Campo Rotaliano
On the border between Trentino and Alto Adige, Campo Rotaliano is a flood plain formed by the confluence of the Noce River into the Adige River: a four hundred hectare triangle surrounded by massive cliffs.
The territory of the Mezo (from medium, plain) has always been a land of transit for goods and travelers. In fact, in Roman times it already held a key role as a hub for trade routes. It was also a cultural crossroad where profoundly different cultures and people met, alive with the vibrant richness that can only arise in the presence of a profusion of exchanges and comparisons.
The Noce River has fashioned the plain’s geography, conveying downstream rocks from the many mountains it touches and dividing the plane naturally into two distinct areas, each with its own castle and villages: two ‘ville’, which have now become the present-day Mezzolombardo and Mezzocorona, governed alternatively by the Bishopric of Trento and the Counts of Tyrol.
Despite the frequent and devastating floods of the river, this land’s viticultural value was already renowned in the Middle Ages: a loose and poor soil, with an extraordinary efficiency for draining rainwater. A soil similar to that found on hillsides, but protected by the surrounding mountains, which temper the climate by reflecting the heat of the sun.
In 1231 a document testifies to the greatness of the vineyards around Mezzolombardo. But it isn’t until the sixteenth century that one finally reads of Teroldego; its cultivation developed over the centuries, becoming a central element for the definition of the landscape, of the economy and of the very community of the Piana Rotaliana, a pure expression of this land.
It isn’t until the mid-nineteenth century, however, that the area acquires its present morphology when the bed of the Noce River was managed and diverted southwards, finally freeing the area from the threat of floods. The soil, which is precious and shallow, reveals its complexity in the variability of its properties depending on the distance from the ancient riverbed.
Fontanasanta
The hills to the east of Trento represent a remarkable context where the agricultural landscape blends with the woods and residential areas, in a delicate balance between manmade and natural space.
The villa “Fontanasanta”, whose name derives from the stream Salùga (from “Santa aga”, holy water) that flows nearby, overlooks the town surrounded by woods and vineyards, while behind it a small south-facing valley rises to Martignano.
Hunting ground from the mid-sixteenth century, in 1815 the estate became home to a beautiful Empire-style villa built at the behest of Count Simone Consolati, Consul in Trento under the Prince Bishop Thun and belonging to a family which has played a central role in the city’s political life over the centuries.
The breaking point came with World War I that was an extremely traumatic period for the area due to its position on the state border: the population was forcefully evacuated and the whole region suffered considerable devastation. Nevertheless, Carl Von Lutterotti, Annunziata Consolati’s husband, managed to redeem the heavily damaged Fontanasanta. He oversaw the planting of orchards and vineyards and thus established the foundations of the estate’s present agricultural structure.
Today, the noisy parties of the nineteenth century have given way to a pervading silence, the sole protagonist, disturbed only by the sounds of the omnipresent woods embracing the vineyards and by the water that flows in small streams.
The earth, red with clay and white with limestone, is finally productive again; this soil, ideal for Incrocio Manzoni and Nosiola, coupled with the unique environment becomes the perfect setting for these two varieties whose roots are deeply entwined with this land and its history.