Le Colture is an artisan company, owned by the Ruggeri family. Based in Santo Stefano di Valdobbiadene, a small village with 400 inhabitants about 80km north of Venice, the winery is surrounded by the beautiful hills of the Prosecco Superiore region, declared a UNESCO Heritage site in 2019. Founded in 1983 by Cesare Ruggeri, Le Colture is today managed by their three children - Silvia, Alberto and Veronica Ruggeri. The name itself means 'The Crops', underlining the importance to the family of the land, grapes and winemaking.
During the 1940s and 1950s, Ruggeri was already an important wine company, founded by Cesare's uncle, Luciano Ruggeri, to whom Cesare's father and all his brothers supplied the grapes. "My father Cesare is a man of great ingenuity", comments Alberto Ruggeri, "and he always had an ambition to produce his own wine from his own vineyard … Le Colture was born from this ambition, a dream that became true in the early 1980s".
The Ruggeri family
So, together with his brother Renato and with only 8 hectares of vineyards, Cesare Ruggeri began producing his own wine from his own grapes in 1983, becoming a true pioneer. "In the 1980s", continues Alberto, "very few people in Valdobbiadene bottled [their own] wine, simply because the grapes were grown to be sold. My father marked a new path, becoming one of the few to manage the entire production chain from the vineyard to the bottle. Since then, we have come a long way. Over the years, my sisters and I joined the business, together with my mother Biancarosa who has always supported dad's decisions."
In 2014, Cesare Ruggeri and his brother Renato decided to split the business, dividing the 40 hectares of the property in half. However, over the next seven years through a series of acquisitions, Cesare grew the estate's owned vineyards to reach the current 45 hectares. These are spread between Santo Stefano and other areas of Valdobbiadene, including a small section on the Cartizze hills. "Our father wanted vineyards spread out", says Veronica Ruggeri, "in areas with different soils and expositions, so we could focus on each kind of soil and make different [styles of] wine."
Le Colture currently produces about 800,000 bottles a year, almost all of them coming from directly owned vineyards in the Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG area, only buying in 10% of grapes. The aim is to reach a production of one million bottles in the next few years.
Le Colture Hills and Vineyards - image credit Mattia Mionetto
"The cru of the winery comes nowadays from the terraces of Santo Stefano", notes Alberto, "together with the ones in Cartizze and all the vineyards in Valdobbiadene blended in our label Cruner." In addition to Prosecco DOCG, they make a Prosecco DOC, a Col Fondo and also a red IGT, comprising a blend of Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon from vineyards on the Montello hills.
The steep slopes of Valdobbiadene are composed of marl, sandstone and clay, resulting from the raising of the seabed and the erosion of the current Dolomites over 25 million years ago. Vineyards enjoy a large diurnal range with good sun exposure during the daytime, followed by cool evenings.
All harvesting, which takes place between mid-September and mid-October, is done by hand. The land here is highly parcellated with vineyards often being less than one hectare in size. Some of the company's largest are located in Felettano, an area of alluvial origin, mainly composed of clay, conglomerate sedimentary rock and marl.
Their vineyards use both organic fertiliser and products that have the lowest possible environmental impact. The company is also part of the 'Glera Resistenza' project with another ten wineries in the area, aimed at producing Prosecco from increasingly sustainable viticulture. In the cellar, much attention is given to energy-saving systems and to sustainability in its various forms. Additionally, they have installed photovoltaic solar panels, along with a purifier for the reuse of wastewater.
Le Colture is a true family business, with the three siblings having specific roles. Silvia is in charge of administration and accounting, Alberto supervises the commercial activities in Italy and abroad, while Veronica looks after hospitality, visits and tastings. "We have shared every business choice since the beginning", explains Veronica Ruggeri. "All of us take care of different tasks, but the truth is that we work together, moved by the same passion." Additionally, for the last 15 years, the cellar manager has been Cristian Agostinetto, Silvia's husband, who supervises and coordinates the work of the oenologists.
Veronica Ruggeri
Veronica Ruggeri: "It's the love of this land that helps us create a good wine."
Veronica and Alberto Ruggeri are keen to point out the difference between mass-market Proseccos and the terroir-driven expressions from the steeper Prosecco Superiore hillside sites. "These are not Proseccos you can buy in the supermarkets", they explain. "We are a small winery and don't produce a big range of wines, as we want to focus on the vineyard and establish our own identity. Most Proseccos in Europe come from the bigger companies which have grown very fast in the last 50 years. The land here is steep and difficult to work with, so you really have to love it here, even if the time spent among the vines doesn't match the expectations you have. It's easier in the flatter region."
A summer tour and tasting at Le Colture offered an opportunity to try a selection of their wines in beautiful surroundings. Pairing several different expressions with locally prepared food showed how the elegance and character of these wines can match many dishes.
The following is not an exhaustive list of Le Colture wines, a selection of which is available in the UK from Corney & Barrow. Prices shown below are per bottle.
Fagher Brut has been very successful globally and is particularly relevant for the UK market, where the Brut style, here with 9g of residual sugar, sells well.
Nose: Clean with notes of juicy pear, flowers, citrus and ground almonds plus hints of herbs and spice.
Palate: Crunchy apple and pear with touches of grapefruit, herbaceousness and spice mid-palate, leading to a classic salty and sour finish.
Food pairings: The fruity acidity and minerality of this wine pairs well with salty and creamy dishes, including risottos, but this style of Prosecco Superiore is very versatile with a range of starters and main courses.
Price: £16.00 from Corney & Barrow.
The Extra Dry expression is the classic version of Valdobbiadene DOCG, the best-selling Prosecco style in Veneto and the wider Italian market.
Nose Floral and fruity with notes of apple, apricot, peach, white flowers and saline spray.
Palate: Fresh with a delicately creamy texture and notes of stone fruit, salinity and sweet apple on the finish.
Food pairings: This aromatic and fruity wine is an excellent match for typical Italian vegetarian or white meat dishes containing beans and pasta, the sweet and salty flavours with the creamy texture of the beans complementing the sweet fruit and cleansing acidity of the bubbles.
Price: £15.65 from Corney & Barrow.
This Brut comes from the oldest vineyards (50-70 years) of Santo Stefano, dedicated to Silvia's, Alberto's and Veronica Ruggeri's grandfather, Gerardo. It's a tribute to the passion he showed in taking care of his 'rive', the vineyards located on the steepest grounds.
Nose Notes of jasmine, white flowers, citrus and apple.
Palate: Fresh and crisp with touches of green apple, grapefruit, underripe white peach and breadcrust.
Food pairings: Good with light fish and vegetable-based starters, seafood or baked fish dishes.
Trying the 2021 and 2019 vintages, it was clear how high quality Prosecco has some ageing ability, the 2019 particularly showing elegance and well-balanced salinity supplementing jasmine, chamomile, bready and white peach notes.
Unfortunately, none of the Rive di Santo Stefano Gerardo vintages are currently available in the UK at the time of review.
This was the biggest surprise of all the wines tasted. It's a Col Fondo, a style increasingly popular in Italy and around the world, in which secondary fermentation occurs in the bottle. 'Col Fondo' literally translates as 'with the bottom', i.e. the sediment or lees settle at the bottom of the bottle.
This 'ancestral method' of making unfiltered, unfined sparkling wine results in a cloudy or hazy, dry style. Unlike the 'traditional method', where an already-fermented wine undergoes a second fermentation by the addition of sugar and yeast, Col Fondo (aka Pétillant Naturel, Pet Nat, Méthode Ancestrale) involves bottling the wine before it finishes its initial fermentation and allowing it to complete the process in bottle. A tradition of the osteria veneta, this natural style of sparkling wine has become trendy around the world and Incalmo is a great example from Le Colture who only started producing it in 2020.
Nose Bread, citrus, pear, white peach and almond notes.
Palate: Fresh, creamy and dry with notes of custard cream biscuit, pear and a touch of salinity.
Food pairings: This is a wine for informal occasions, served by the glass with pizza, cheeses, charcuterie or other light dishes.
It's a delicious and very drinkable wine, but unfortunately not yet in the UK at the time of review - hint hint!
Cartizze, from the ancient dialectal name 'gardiz' representing the trellis on which grapes were placed to dry, is a small pentagon-shaped hill community of high quality Prosecco Superiore production.
Located in the municipality of Valdobbiadene between the steepest hills of Santo Stefano and Saccol, it comprises 150 wine producers on 108 hectares. These rocky vineyards of marl, sandstone and clay soils reach 390 metres, whereas elsewhere in Conegliano Valdobbiadene, they tend to lie between 150 and 300 metres. Cartizze is the Grand Cru equivalent of Prosecco Superiore and Le Colture has half a hectare here.
Nose Highly aromatic with notes of flowers, stone fruit and pineapple chunks.
Palate: Intensely fruity and concentrated with peach, apricot and pineapple notes plus a hint of dried pear.
Food pairings: While often served in Italy with Panettone, this wine also matches well with salty vintage cheeses, easily coping with and complementing their creamy richness.
Price: £25.70 from Corney & Barrow.
This wine is a blend of 85% Glera from Le Colture's proprietary DOC vineyards on the Montello Hill and 15% Pinot Nero grapes they buy in.
Nose Delicately aromatic with hints of peach melba and rose petal plus a fresh touch of saline spray.
Palate: Elegant and long with notes of raspberry, peach, a hint of citrus and a subtle saline and pear edge that builds on the finish.
Food pairings: A gastronomic expression that would match particularly well with smoked salmon pasta.
Price: £14.70 from Corney & Barrow.
