VALCHYARA Farm - Valentina and Constantin Hurjui

VALCHYARA Farm was founded in Valchiusella in 2017 with the aim of reclaiming abandoned terraces and bringing back to light the heroic viticulture that has been present since the late 1800s in Pedanea (a sub-area of the Ivrea morainic amphitheatre).

We are a family-run business. To date, we have reclaimed 1.3 hectares of abandoned terraces and vineyards and planted the same amount of vineyard land. All our vineyards remain naturally grassed, and we strive to consolidate mixed farming by maintaining fruit trees, broadleaf forests, and fruit bushes in and around the vineyards. The vineyard management is not certified organic; we have a spring in the vineyard attached to the farmhouse. This potable water source is used for agriculture, residential purposes, and winemaking, and is certified by the local health authority and sanitation department through seasonal sampling. Soil management, vegetation management, and harvesting are carried out manually. Grass cutting and surface tillage, where necessary, are performed exclusively with small machinery such as brush cutters and rotary tillers. Spraying is carried out using backpack-mounted low-volume sprayers, due to the limited terrain and careful drift management. We are fortunate, logistically speaking, to grow, harvest, and vinify all our grapes on site. We perform spontaneous fermentations, taking advantage of the fact that the cellar is two levels below street level. Therefore, we do not use pumps of any kind to move the grapes/pomace, including destemming and crushing, which is done by gravity. All our wines undergo spontaneous malolactic fermentation. Tartaric stabilization is carried out outdoors during the winter months. Our wines do not undergo any filtration. The wines remain on the lees until bottling, which is why we add sulfites only at bottling.