Ca'Orologio

About Winery and Wines

On the gentle slopes of the Euganei Hills, amongst the vineyards, olive groves and woodland, in the magical surroundings of a Venetian 16th century villa, I cultivate vines and produce wine using natural methods. I make my wine simply by following the grape fermentation to produce a wine that does not necessarily have to be similar to the last one, but that will definitely be really good. The Ca’Orologio winery business developed mainly from the love Nicola and I share for farming and country life. Both of us grew up in the city, I in Treviso and he in Padua, and when we were children we couldn’t wait to spend the summer in the country with our grandparents. The fond memories that have never faded convinced us that when we “grew up” we would want the same for our children. I love wine and good food, and my ambitious mission is create a red wine that is the ultimate expression of the place I love and where I work: the Euganean Hills. I do a job I love and my professional progress in the farming world has aroused incredible passion in me, so it’s often difficult for me understand where work stops and pleasure begins. During the winter, when the vines rest, there is all the time to make plans for the coming harvest. I always hope it will be special, the best, a blank sheet on which to write the story of Ca’Orologio, clean, without scribbling or erasures. Then, from budbreak onwards, the relationship with the vineyard becomes totally engrossing and decisions for the best interpretation of the harvest are bound inextricably to seasonal trends, right up to the vital decision: the date of the harvest!

Each of us has their own ideal wine. I have high expectations of the wine I’d like. If you are a believer and you commit to a project that you think will be for life, to fuel enthusiasm you need more than the project, you also need a dream. Mine may be a little naive, to make a great wine one day, but meanwhile I hope my wine will at least be forthright, with a hint of mystery, a little edgy but just at the start, austere but not overly so, balanced and clean. Above all, however, I would like it to be identifiable. Yes, identity is the bee in my bonnet and the trickiest aspect, relying on many things, but mostly on the terroir (an overused term but without synonyms) and – as with all professions – on the art of savoir faire, personal taste and experience.