We are vine growers who are also custodians of the history of the Montello zone, a natural oasis 50 km from Venice, a city that has always had a special relationship with the Treviso hills. The Venetians took the timber from our area to construct their vessels that set sail for distant shores, and it is here that – as long ago as the 16th century – wines were produced that Venice sold at higher prices than the others.
We are at Venegazzù, in the western part of the Montello. Ours is a story of men. The first of these was Count Piero Loredan Gasparini, a direct descendant of Leonardo Loredan, Doge of Venice – the city’s highest office – who in fact chose to retire to Vinegazzù. Piero Loredan Gasparini was a charismatic figure who, after making a visit to Bordeaux in France, decided to bring Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Franc, and Malbec to the Montello area, in order to produce a new wine that he could tell the whole world about. He turned his dream into reality, to the extent that, in the 1960s, it even won over French President Charles De Gaulle. In 1973, the baton passed to Giancarlo Palla, who has made a similarly important contribution to the area. Above all by bringing to the zone, which was traditionally linked with red wines, the culture of sparkling wine production. He was the first to realise that the Montello is an extraordinary site not only for full-bodied, long-lived wines, on which he continues to focus, but also for vibrant sparkling wines.
As long ago as the ’70s, he began producing a Metodo Classico wine with the aid of a consulting oenologist from Champagne, a region for which he harbours a real passion. To this he added experimentation with Prosecco, which he was one of the first to produce and for which he fought hard for the obtainment of the D.O.C. (in 1977) and of the Asolo Prosecco Superiore D.O.C.G., in 2009.
It was also Giancarlo Palla who sought recognition for Venegazzù as the only subzone of the D.O.C.G., today considered a real cru and produced only by Loredan Gasparini. Giancarlo was then joined by his sons Alberto and Lorenzo, who today run the company along with their father, with whom they are embarking on new projects.