A rough little road, full of potholes and several bends, leads to the Colmello Farm — Pat del Colmel winery — just above the wonderful town of Asolo, in the locality of Castelcucco (Province of Treviso). The 17 hectares of vineyards of the Colmello Farm stretch across the hills of the municipalities of Castelcucco, Asolo, Monfumo, and Maser, within the Asolo Prosecco DOCG Superiore district. The area is protected by the Asolo Prosecco DOCG Superiore and Rosso Asolo Montello DOC designations.
The vineyards open like an amphitheater, overlooking the hills of this marvelous corner of the Venetian foothills. Here, as always, the particular composition of the soil, the mild climate, and the enviable exposure to the sun provide the best conditions for optimal vine cultivation and the production of high-quality wines.
“Harvesting is entirely manual and we try to enter the rows as little as possible. Pat del Colmel was among the first wineries in the area to obtain the SQNPI certification.”
An institution more than just a farm. Gabriella and Lino, together with their son Matteo — the fifth generation — can therefore be considered living monuments, witnesses to good viticulture unconditioned by trends; their wines have personality as their greatest virtue. The Asolo area was once rich in vineyards, mainly Glera, Bianchetta, Verdiso, Marzemina Bianca, and the rarer Recantina. For the Forner family, nicknamed “Pat,” winemaking began in 1875 with the couple Pina and Pietro Forner; love for the land and its fruits has been handed down from generation to generation to this day with Gabriella, Lino, and their son Matteo.
Today the father, with the help of his son, runs the winery with great passion. In addition to producing Asolo Prosecco Superiore D.O.C.G., Pat del Colmel cultivates native grape varieties carefully preserved over time and rediscovered among old rows, such as Bianchetta, Rabbiosa, Marzemina Bianca, and Recantina. A heritage on the verge of extinction, brought back to life in a new dedicated space in the new underground cellar — conceived in respect of tradition yet innovative in the choice of materials and modest in size. A distinctive trait of Pat del Colmel has always been its belief in the union between the promotion of native varieties and modern oenological techniques that safeguard and enhance their high quality.
Recantina in particular is an old variety, famous already in the days of the Serenissima not only for its organoleptic qualities, but also for its long keeping during lengthy transfers by ship. It is a wine that the Forner family rediscovered, researched, registered in the National Registry of vine varieties, and brought to market first, as early as 2008. A still wine, ruby red, fruity and intensely structured, requiring long aging (3 to 4 years) in oak barrels and six months of bottle refinement. Production is around 10,000 bottles per year, which are added to the production of the other Colmello wines — from Merlot to Cabernet, from Prosecco to indigenous whites — for a total annual output of about 100,000 bottles.
Moreover, as part of its initiative to rediscover ancient varieties, the Veneto Region has included “Recantina” — after DNA testing — as a vine cultivated in the Treviso area for at least 400 years, which disappeared at the beginning of the twentieth century and was recovered after long research. The bottle-fermented Rabbiosa is from another grape unknown to most, a variety practically extinct since the late 1800s. Lino’s project to revive this grape was born when a fraud inspector, during a visit to the winery, found a bottle bearing the name of this grape — something not compliant with the law. After checks and with no trace of “Rabbiosa” found on the internet, not only did he issue no citation, he advised registering the name — which Lino did the very next day.
From the field — a field and a half — of Pat del Colmel, about 3,000 bottles per year are produced, plus another thousand magnums. A fascinating wine with an intense yellow color and aromas of dried apricot, baked apple, apple strudel, and a hint of grapefruit. On the palate it is enveloping, well balanced, mineral and savory, with good persistence and a light tannin on the finish: a slight caramel aftertaste can be perceived, while the typical acidity of this grape is rounded thanks to correct ripening. As we sip the glass of wine, we speak of the vineyard, where yields are about 60/80 quintals per hectare and integrated pest management is applied without chemical herbicides and fertilizers.
