Faraone

Family roots and the first vineyards

The family’s association with the present property began with migration. Giovanni Faraone, Federico and Alfonso’s great-grandfather, emigrated to New York before returning to purchase the land and house where the family lives and works. In 1916 his son Alfonso Faraone settled at the present premises and subsequently established the agricultural business there.

The first vineyards were planted in 1930 with Montepulciano, Sangiovese and Passerina. This is the decade identified with the birth of Azienda Agricola Faraone. Giovanni Faraone, Alfonso’s son and the next central figure in the estate, was born in 1945.

The DOC era and estate bottling

The Montepulciano d’Abruzzo production rules and DOC were established in 1968. Faraone bottled its first Montepulciano d’Abruzzo in 1970, marking the beginning of estate bottling. In 1971 the family registered its white-berried rows in the DOC vineyard register as Trebbiano. Within the family, the variety had been called Uva Passera; ampelographic work and later DNA analysis associated it with the Trebbiano family. The first Faraone Trebbiano d’Abruzzo was bottled in 1972.

Traditional-method sparkling wine and expansion of the range

After several years of trials, the family applied for and obtained authorisation to make sparkling wine in 1983. The competent authorities for Abruzzo and Molise assigned Faraone the code VSN1/TE—Vino Spumante Naturale no. 1, Teramo—making it the first authorised traditional-method sparkling-wine producer in the region.

In 1990 the range expanded to include the dessert wines Primarosa, Moscatello and Rosso della Cattedrale. Between 1992 and 1995 the cellar briefly experimented with barriques before abandoning that direction. The Colline Teramane subzone was recognised in 1995.

Collepietro and the Colline Teramane DOCG

In 2000 the family acquired and planted a 7-hectare property at Collepietro. Giovanni Faraone also contributed to the movement that culminated in the 2003 recognition of Colline Teramane as Abruzzo’s first DOCG.

Production reached approximately 50,000 bottles in 2010. Federico Faraone, who had studied oenology and spent extended periods in Friuli Venezia Giulia after experience abroad, returned to the estate in 2015 with his wife Mariangela and their children.

Old vineyards and generational transition

In 2017 the estate added the 1.5-hectare Convento vineyard, an established Montepulciano planting more than 30 years old between Mosciano Sant’Angelo and Giulianova. In 2018 it took 3 hectares of old Montepulciano pergola vineyards under management and restored them. These plantings dated from the 1960s and 1970s and were between 40 and 60 years old.

Giovanni Faraone died in 2019. That year’s harvest, begun after a delayed but otherwise favourable season, was the family’s first without him and came just before its fiftieth bottled vintage. Federico and Alfonso, together with their respective families, formally continued the work in 2020. Federico became the estate proprietor and resident winegrower, while Alfonso, based in Brussels, continued to support marketing remotely.

Hospitality, new plantings and anniversaries

A new tasting room was created in 2020 from an idea by Giovanni Faraone. Designed as an energy-efficient structure made substantially from recovered and low-plastic materials, it enlarged the area devoted to hospitality and education. A heat pump connected to the photovoltaic system was installed that year. In 2021 the educational room supported an expansion of wine-tourism and school-farm activities.

From 2022 the estate replanted 1.5 hectares behind the historic premises with Malvasia and Montepulciano. In 2023 Faraone celebrated 40 years of traditional-method sparkling-wine production with a retrospective tasting of different vintages. In 2025 Federico Faraone received an Ambassador of the Italian Toast award during Bologna Wine Week.

The vineyards and olive grove have been worked under an organic regime for more than ten years. The approach combines integrated pest management, monitoring of climatic parameters and pheromone traps for pest control. Vineyard soils receive neither organic nor inorganic fertiliser, and weeds are removed mechanically without herbicides. The estate associates this approach with protecting and improving soil biodiversity.

The vineyards are not irrigated. Giovanni Faraone’s documented practice also avoided tillage and followed the vine’s growth cycle, with copper and sulphur treatments used against downy and powdery mildew. The current sustainability programme continues to favour lower-impact field techniques and biodiversity while adapting work to natural conditions rather than attempting to dominate them.

Harvesting at Collepietro is manual, with bunches placed in 15–18 kg crates. In addition to maintaining its own plantings, the estate has restored older Montepulciano pergola vineyards between 40 and 60 years of age. The difficult 2016 season demonstrated the limits of intervention on steep, rain-soaked sites: persistent spring rain encouraged downy mildew during flowering and fruit set, reducing production by more than half. The surviving fruit matured well during fine weather from August through most of October. Downy mildew again reduced the 2023 crop by 30–40%, leading the family to forgo its red-wine bottlings from that vintage.

The cellar developed from a small, mixed-farm facility—once shared with the animals, vegetables and other activities needed for household subsistence—into a purpose-equipped winery. It was progressively excavated, enlarged, built out and modernised. Faraone has long carried out its own bottling and every stage of its traditional-method sparkling-wine production.

An underground barrel room was created for ageing Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. The cellar experimented with barriques between 1992 and 1995 but quickly moved away from that direction. Pupitres remain part of the traditional-method sparkling-wine operation.

After years of trials, traditional-method sparkling-wine production was authorised in 1983 under code VSN1/TE. Passerina is selected for this process because its pronounced acidity and consistently low, stable pH support long ageing. As one documented example, fruit from the 2021 harvest remained on its lees for approximately 30 months before an April 2025 disgorgement.

Giovanni Faraone participated with other growers in a regional research project conducted by the biology laboratory of an institute in Ascoli, selecting native yeasts from Passerina and Montepulciano. His cellar philosophy combined this microbiological research with active monitoring of fermentation and temperature control, particularly important when warm harvested fruit entered the cellar. The current sustainability programme includes reduced sulphite use.

The modern cellar complex also includes a thermally insulated warehouse, photovoltaic panels supplying renewable electricity and an educational tasting room. The latter’s heat pump is connected to the solar installation.

Faraone presents sustainability as a principle rooted in the economic realities of a small historic farm: reusing materials, recycling and avoiding waste were once essential to survival and now shape its response to contemporary environmental needs. The estate connects its work to selected goals of the UN 2030 Agenda and frames its approach as cooperation with nature, combining practical ingenuity with tradition, innovation, scientific data and common sense.

Current priorities encompass environmental and human welfare, responsible farming, support for local culture, short supply chains and daily resource-saving choices. The estate works with lower-consumption equipment, renewable energy, reduced sulphite use, carbon-emission reduction, educational farming, Slow Food activities and mindful-eating initiatives.

Giovanni Faraone’s philosophy joined respect for the vine’s natural cycle with technical responsibility in the cellar. He avoided irrigation, soil cultivation and fertilisation, while regarding fermentation monitoring, temperature control and research into native yeasts as necessary safeguards for a crop representing an entire year’s work. He rejected reliance on a label as the sole proof of natural wine, preferring transparency through year-round access to the vineyard and cellar.

The next generation retains the family character of the estate. Federico describes the winery and family home as inseparable, making hospitality an extension of domestic life. Wine remains the centre of its tourism programme, with guided visits and structured tastings designed for visitors interested in listening and learning rather than treating the property solely as an event venue.