Valdobbiandene Vineyard Loop

May 29, 2025

Sounds like… Val-dah-bya-deh-neh

When I first stumbled across the name Valdobbiadene, I did a triple-take to sort out all the syllables and then it took weeks, if not months, for it to roll off my tongue. When we arrived in Treviso I soon learned the proper pronunciation, which places the emphasis on the ‘bya’.

So, what’s so special about Valdobbiaddene? Essentially, it’s famous for being the center of the production area of Prosecco wine. When I learned about this back in December, I booked a Prosecco tasting and winery tour for David’s birthday. And, today is the day of the tour.

We began the day in the dining room where the breakfast was laid out. There was enough food for a full house, but we were the only guests last night so we did our best to put a dent in the food. Mmm, not much of a dent, really.

We didn’t get as far as cake or pastries today.

First course, with fresh squeezed orange/grapefruit juice.

The prosecco tour was scheduled for 11am at a winery just down the hill from us. Since we had a bit of time and I hadn’t managed to write up the journal last night, I did that while David went for a jaunt on his bike to take some photos of the vineyards with his new mirrorless Nikon camera. We met up at 10:30, then cruised down the hill to the PDC Cartizze winery.

Check out the patterns made by the vineyard plantings. The PDC winery can be seen in the upper right of this photo.

At the top of the nearby hill, a winery with an amazing view.

Looking west, at San Pietro di Barbozza.

Cartizze, we learned, is a unique small area of the Prosecco growing region, made special by the combination of sun, wind and water that makes the Glera grapes grow so well. Other areas adjacent to the Cartizze produce excellent but slightly lower quality Prosecco. The sun doesn’t reach these vines as consistently, nor do the winds reach them in the same way. The Prosecco region, including the DOC, DOCG and Cartizze, actually encompasses the areas all the way from Vittorio Veneto to Valodbbiadene and from there to Conegliano.

Our tour begain in the tasting room where we learned about Prosecco and its flavours and sweetness. We tasted four wines, all of which were delicious and refreshing. Given the choice, we both decided we prefer a little touch of sweetness in our Prosecco. Each wine was paired with something sweet or savory so we could taste them with foods that would be compatible with the various styles of Prosecco. It was fascinating to notice the different profiles of the wines.

From there we moved out to the vineyards where we learned about the root stocks and the ages of the vines. In about 1886, Europe’s grape stocks were struck with phylloxera and died. Following that disaster, phylloxera resistant American root stocks were purchased and used to graft the European grapes in order to revive the European wines. We were surprised that this practise continues to this day.

The oldest vine at PDC is 130 years old, making it one of the vines that was planted post-phylloxera. Generally, when a vine is deemed to be beyond is ability to produce enough grapes for three consecutive years, it’s replaced by a new vine. These, in turn, take three years to begin producing grapes. As a result, the vineyard is a mixture of vines of all ages. It must make for some strict organization during harvest as they pick based on the ages of the vines. Their harvest is all done in-house, by hand.

Four wines on the roster today, each in a different coloured glass bottle

The fermentation vats, stainless steel and concrete, with cooling coils in the walls to control the temperature.

Soil is clay, very different from what we grow out veggies and flowers in.

The trunk is hollowed out but still surviving.

We wrapped up the wine tour and headed off to explore the region, stopping in at a cafe in the central piazza in Valdobbiadene for a lemon soda and a sandwich.

An interesting wall on a barn. I could hear bells jangling inside, perhaps goats?

Another interesting church along the way.

Art metal V at the entrance to Valdobbiadene.

Large central piazza in Valdobbiadene. Notice the onion spire on the church bell tower. The first one we’ve seen in this region.

When dinner time rolled around, we headed up the hill on foot to a pizza restaurant, where we sat outside overlooking the vineyards. We were the first patrons to arrive and by the time we left, it seemed everyone in the village had decided on pizza tonight. Those who had to wait, perhaps 30 or more people, were all served prosecco while they waited to be seated. We suspected they were all there to celebrate some event, but in any case, we felt lucky to have had our pizza ahead of the crowd.

Tomorrow, we move on to Bassano del Grappa for another two night stay.

Today's ride: 25 km (16 miles)
Total: 182 km (113 miles)

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Liz ReadingSo interesting to learn about Valdobbiandene Prosecco!
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1 week ago

Anne MathersTo Liz ReadingI sure did not know about the full range of sweetness. We only get so
many prosecco’s in our liquor stores and consider them as a celebratory drink. They are so much more.
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1 week ago

Patty BarronSuch a beautiful area of steep vineyard hills, which make me think of those along the Mosel Valley in Luxembourg. Prost 🥂
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1 week ago