Maurizio Donadi

Veneto, Italy

A few years ago Maurizio Donadi, a trained oenologist with a big heart and great skills, salvaged some vineyards that belonged to his family and decided to present himself to the public with an approach that involved respect for his work and love of the land, so as to obtain healthy, energetic grapes. He accompanies his wines along their road without intervening heavily or chemically. The first wine he made was Casa Belfi Colfondo which, even though made 100% from glera grapes, preferred being presented as bottle-fermented Naturally Sparkling Colfondo because tired of the prosecco denomination. Maurizio, helped by his wife Fabiola, does continual research on respect of and production improvements in the vineyard, adding and experimenting various biological and biodynamic methods to obtain healthy soil. His sparkling wine does not obtain its bubbles in vats, but is referemented in the bottle without any additional yeasts, enzymes or sugars, giving a wine whose sediments remain in the bottle. This was the only way for the grape variety and the soil to express their distinctive characteristics at best. A simple concept, around which Donadi’s whole universe turns: biodiversity and natural harmony. Nourishing the land with infusions and decoctions with a base of nettle, equisetum, silica and camomile; making the soil fertile with cow horn manure and harps that play in the vineyard, whose music is diffused thanks to the wind, music that harmonises the positive energies and vibrations of the fruit... Everything blooms again and harmonises: animals and insects that have not been seen for decades reappear - frogs, fireflies, dragonflies, bats. A few years ago, Maurizio and Fabiola bought a house with mountain vineyards in Valbelluna, in the province of Belluno, at an elevation of about 500 metres above sea level. That is where they started Casera Frontin, their latest project, with new grape species and new bottled expressions, making their whites from resistant grape species and their rosés using pinot noir grapes.