Fidora

Four generations, one principle

In 1927, Ferruccio Fidora bought the Civranetta estate - Benedictine alluvial land in the hinterland of the Venetian lagoon, whose history dates back to the 16th century. The noble Civran family once took over the land from the monks and gave it its name. Ferruccio's son Guido, who actually trained as a psychologist, took over the farm and made a radical decision in 1974: no more insecticides, herbicides and artificial fertilisers. At a time when Italian agriculture focused on maximising yields, he retained crop rotation, livestock farming and linear hedges between the fields. When the EU first formulated organic guidelines in 1991, Guido Fidora sat at the table and helped to write the first drafts. Today, the fourth generation is continuing the work: Emilio Fidora came back to the farm after a corporate career in Germany and abroad and is driving biodynamic farming forward. Demeter certification - a rare distinction that is only awarded to wineries that have been working according to these principles for years. Some wines from the 2019 vintage were even certified retroactively.

Four tenutes, a terroir mosaic

Today the family owns 400 hectares in four different locations, of which around 80 hectares are under vines. The parent estate Civranetta near Venice supplies Glera for the Prosecco Spumante Brut and Pinot Grigio for still and amphora wines. In Collagù, The fine, elegant Prosecco Superiore grows on the steep UNESCO World Heritage hills of Valdobbiadene. For the red wines, we head westwards into the Valpolicella: in Montorio in the eastern part and on the vineyard Fraune ripen in the classic valley of Fumane Corvina, Corvinone and Rondinella for Valpolicella, Ripasso and the powerful Amarone Monte Tabor. The chalky slopes of the Marano Valley, where the Castellani brothers of Cà la Bionda The two pioneers of organic Amarone are located just a few kilometres away.

A farm like an organism

Biodynamics here means more than just a seal on the bottle. Emilio attended the Rudolf Steiner School in Switzerland and has been making every preparation himself ever since. He fills cow horns from cows with calves - according to Steiner, only their horns store the necessary cosmic energy - with silica and buries them in sunny places in spring. In autumn, dung-filled horns are placed in the coldest corners of the vineyards to concentrate the earth's powers. Camomile, yarrow, nettle and dandelion grow between the rows of vines and provide the basis for the compost preparations. Cattle, horses, poultry and pigs graze on the pastures and close the cycle with their fertiliser. At least a third of the land is deliberately left unproductive: forests, hedges, ponds - retreats for insects, birds and wild animals. The result is wines of unusual clarity. The Prosecco Col Fondo ferments on the yeast in the bottle, cloudy and lively like a cider - the opposite of the crystal-clear industrial Prosecco.

2024: A new winery

After three years of construction, Fidora opened a new building in 2024. Gravity cellar in San Pietro in Cariano near Verona. The four-storey building extends over 4,000 square metres and works entirely with Photovoltaics. The grapes are not pumped, but glide from floor to floor by gravity - it couldn't be gentler. Some of the 2023 vintage has already been vinified here, and from 2024 all red wine production will take place in the new facility. Fifty years after Guido's first renunciation of chemicals, the circle is complete: A winery that lives from the sun - in the vineyard as well as in the cellar. The Moscato sparkling wines, dry as Brut Nature or slightly sweet as Demi-Sec, show the aromatic side of the house. Anyone who is fed up with the Prosecco mainstream will find the opposite programme at Fidora.