Ornella Molon

Ornella Molon’s History and Philosophy

The cultivation of native grape varieties, lately, is very fashionable in Italy , enjoying a new popularity based, at least in part, on the refusal of the model that for almost twenty years between 1985 and 2005 saw massive plantations of French grapes ( Chardonnay and Sauvignon for whites, Cabernet and Merlot for reds) and equally massive doses of French oak in the barrels used for the aging of wines. Practices that tend to hide (in the best of cases, and also to annihilate, in the worst) the specifically Italian character of the wines themselves. There are parts of Italyhowever, where non-Italian varieties have a long and, in some cases, illustrious history. One of these is the north east, where historical ties with the Austrian Empire inevitably had important repercussions on wines: just remember that, since the days of the unfortunate Marie Antoinette, the cultural partnerships between France and Austria were very strong.

The wines of Ornella Molon

All this is only a brief introduction to Ornella Molon’s estate and wines . The country in which it is located is  Campo di Pietra (TV), on the Piave river basin in the province of Treviso , where Cabernet and Merlot have occupied a central position in the field of viticulture for many generations. Here the lifestyle is noble and aristocratic, with imposing estates and villas, in a word “grandeur”. But, most important, it is the geological similarity that connects this part of the Veneto to the French region of Médoc: often, in both cases, the subsoil of the plots bordering the river is composed of stone, gravel and pebbles that heat the soil, greatly helping the maturation, giving not only copious structure and tannins, but also finesse and an elegant and unmistakable mineral quality.