Filarole is a family project and was born from the desire to work old vineyards, preserving them from abandonment and uprooting.

The adventure begins in the fall of 2016 when we found our first vineyard abandoned for 6 years. Year after year others have been added and today we work 7 hectares of vineyards in which the plants are from 35 to over 100 years old . The choice was made not only for the "enological" qualities of the grapes, but above all to preserve vineyards made in the old way (with massal selection) and the genetic biodiversity of the grapes found there.

How we work in the vineyard

Our vineyards are scattered in different parts of the valley, almost all isolated among woods and fields. Small plots at different altitudes (from 150 to 450 meters above sea level), with different exposures, on different types of soil, vineyards in which there are different varieties of grapes, as was the custom in the past. For this reason our harvest is always very long: we pick the grapes slowly, as they ripen, vineyard after vineyard .

We have chosen organic farming , in the vineyard only copper, sulfur and zeolite trying to limit to a minimum the passages with mechanical means and the processing. The life of the soil is for us as important as the life around the plants, for this reason we let the spontaneous herbs grow and limit the fertilizations. We personally take care of all the manual processes , from pruning to harvesting, and this allows us to know each plant and each vineyard and observe their potential and needs.

How our wines are born in the cellar

With these grapes and a careful selection of the bunches during the harvest, the work in the cellar is extremely simple: only grapes, time and patience, without any additives . For the white grapes we have chosen the vinification in contact with the skins as has always been the local tradition until the 1980s. We love still and structured wines, so are our wines even though we are in an area where the wine is mainly sparkling. To enhance the characteristics of the grapes we do not use wooden containers, but only neutral containers: cement and fiberglass. The refinement takes place in the bottle.

The territory

Val Tidone is the first valley in Emilia Romagna on the border with Lombardy. Here viticulture is typically hilly and is still accompanied by a variety of crops that draw a varied and pleasant landscape. The main grapes are Barbera and Croatina red grapes, Ortrugo and Malvasia aromatica di Candia white grapes.