The freshness
of the future

“Paesaggi storici” and “paesaggi mentali,” historical lanscapes and mental landscapes: Renaissance artists Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano and Giovanni Bellini, both creators of the beautiful, chose these terms to describe the Conegliano Valdobbiadene surroundings. In the 1600s, Fra Leonardo Alberti praised the “whitest of breads” and the perfect wines of the “noble Castello di Conegliano... very civic-minded, rich, and populous, a cornucopia of things for fine living.” In these landscapes, in the heart of Feletto, 270 metres above the sea and halfway between Venice and the Alps, where the land is both magic and reality, where every spot summons forth will and determination, amidst gently-rolling hills and steep mountain sides, both native and international vines found their perfect climate. The hand of man did the rest, fashioning a product that is nonpareil, superior, guaranteed, so utterly special as to merit fully two denominations of monitored and delimited origin, one Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG, granted in 2009, the other Colli di Conegliano DOCG, approved in 2011, both regulated by individual production codes, both true guarantees of high quality. Then there are the Rive, the very essence of a terroir that defines a unique landscape, vineyards sited on the steepest of slopes, requiring the utmost dedication and attention, and yielding the very rarest of grapes, the finest expression of the sub-zones where they are grown. Only 12 communes and 31 villages may be cited, along with the term Rive, on the wine label, thus underlining the uniqueness of the area. The grapes grown by Bepin de Eto too, nourished by complex soils that give them finesse and vigour, acquire that strong, proud character that marks Ettore, who lavishes on them the expertise and caring attention that tradition demands, both he and his fruit reflecting a shared identity. Today, some decades after the granting of DOC status, the 15 communes of the Feletto hills produce the rich, crisp, vivacious product of a matchless terroir. Every glance catches the unmistakable distinctiveness of this area, a landscape with no peer, one the eye finds exciting ... and the palate unforgettable.