It’s harvest time.
The beautiful wine region of Emilia Romagna, amongst endless rows of vines...
Emilia Romagna decked out in the colours of autumn. The harvest has begun and soon we’ll be able to enjoy its fruits...
In Emilia Romagna, harvest time is a celebration.
A shared ritual, laborious yet absorbing – one that takes us back in time, amid memories, symbols and traditions stretching back to antiquity.
The art of wine production and vine cultivation was practised by the Ancient Greeks and Romans and was associated with themes such as birth, life and resurrection. This connection lives on in our collective imaginations.
All you need to do to breathe in the magic of wine and let the aroma of wort wash over you is visit the wineries of Emilia Romagna. They stand ready and waiting to welcome you, share all their passion for wine and tell you the secrets of vine cultivation and wine making, all in the sociable, convivial atmosphere which has become synonymous with that region of Italy.
The vindêma, as the harvest is known in Romagna, in the Faenza dialect, is best experienced with a visit to the La Sabbiona winery. You’ll discover some of Romagna’s autochthonous vines, such as Centesimino and Famoso, which are used to make red and white wine respectively and have been enjoying great popularity among wine lovers in recent years.
You’ll be able to taste the wine while you enjoy a few nibbles, get stuck into a classic selection of Romagna meats and cheeses or sample traditional dishes at the agriturismo. And you definitely don’t want to miss out on the tractor tour, which goes all the way to the medieval tower in Oriolo.
One word you’ll be hearing a lot of in Emilia wine circles is pistòun, the Modena word given to the traditional wine bottles with cork tops. There’s a wonderful experience waiting for you at the Villa Cialdini winery in Castelvetro di Modena, a delightful old village featuring a beautiful square with a large, chessboard design. It’s considered a Città del Vino – a wine town. The winery is home to one of the most important vineyards in the Emilia region, Cleto Chiarli, where you can wander among the vines, visit the winery and taste the winery’s impeccable sparkling wine and their celebrated Lambrusco di Sorbara and Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro.
But the vines obviously don't stop there!
In fact, there are over 50 million hectares of vines in the region of Emilia Romagna alone. And that number is growing all the time, as is the amount of hectares given over to organic production. It’s all thanks to the efforts of the vine growers, the passion of the wine makers and – of course – the many wine enthusiasts who love hopping from winery to winery, vineyard to vineyard...
