Corriere Della Sera
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Villa Vicentina
Farming by
giving something back
Five Generations
Denis took the vines over from his grandfather in 1989 — the latest link in a family that's farmed this corner of Udine province for generations before him.
The Fallow Year
One year in six, a parcel is left alone entirely — no chemicals, no pruning, no fruit taken. Denis calls it paying the land back for everything it gives the rest of the time.
Denis dropped chemical farming early and signed the estate up to the Renaissance du Terroir protocol, a commitment to let the vineyard's own ecosystem carry more of the work. More recently he's gone further still, taking up syntropic agriculture — a method few Italian growers have adopted, and a demanding one for a working vineyard. Every sixth year, a parcel of vines and arable land is left to rest completely: no pruning, no cultivation, no fruit taken from it at all.
Torelli reported that the neighbours assumed, at first, that Denis had simply given up on those fields. He sees it differently. “The point,” he told Corriere del Veneto, “is that we always take from the land. That relationship can't just run one way — you have to think about giving a little more back, not only expecting.”
The payoff, by his own account, shows up everywhere except the ledger — more birds, frogs and insects on the property each year, and underground, a fertility he credits with pushing the vines along on their own. “Nature gives you extraordinary signals,” he told the paper.
Find out more about Friuli-Venezia Giulia, or shop Denis Montanar's wines.
The Wines Behind The Story
