About this wine
Vineyard and terroir
The fruit comes from hillside vineyards in Veneto at 370 metres above sea level. The vines are cultivated without pesticides or herbicides.
Vinification
The grapes are harvested entirely by hand. A second fermentation takes place in the bottle in spring, around Easter, and is timed to the waxing moon. The wine is unfiltered and remains on its lees, forming a natural layer of sediment. The bottle is sealed with a crown cap.
Ageing
After bottling, the wine rests for 60–90 days. Continued contact with the lees allows the sediment to develop further.
Tasting profile
Refined, with persistent foam, lively bubbles and a bright, distinctive flavour. Lees ageing contributes rustic, fresh aromas. Letting the sediment settle gives a clear pour; gently agitating the bottle produces a cloudy pour with a more pronounced taste.
Label / history
“Col Fondo” is Riccardo Zanotto’s range of unfiltered wines and began with this sparkling wine more than fifteen years before the source account. The name revives the Venetian dialect term col fondo, referring to wine “with the sediment”; the style had previously been called sur lie, or “on the lees.”
