The Prosecco Hills, an Hour from Venice

Why go

Every bar in Venice pours Prosecco. You can order it at ten in the morning beside a man in a suit and nobody blinks. What almost nobody does is take the train an hour north to see where it comes from, which is a shame, because the place is more beautiful than the city’s gift shops would have you believe, and lunch is cheaper.

The Prosecco hills rise where the plain of the Veneto runs into the first ridges of the Alps, between two towns, Conegliano in the east and Valdobbiadene in the west. The slopes are so steep that the vines are still worked by hand: the local consortium puts it at 600 to 700 hours of manual work per hectare a year.¹ UNESCO put the landscape on its World Heritage list for exactly that, small vineyards on narrow grassy terraces, centuries of people farming hills that would rather not be farmed.²

You do not need a guide, a tour bus or a sommelier’s vocabulary. You need a map, a plan for who’s driving, and an appetite. We have the first two covered.

Where is the Prosecco region? The map

“The Prosecco region” means four different places, and people mix them up constantly. Here they are, from the one you want to the one that will surprise you.

The four Proseccos

• The hills. Conegliano Valdobbiadene, in the province of Treviso. The postcard. The wine here is labelled Prosecco Superiore DOCG, the top tier.³
• Asolo. A smaller hill zone to the west, around a walled town that gave the poet Robert Browning a new word: asolando, for wandering about with no aim at all. It has its own DOCG.⁴
• The wider Prosecco DOC. Nine provinces across the Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia, mostly flat.⁵ Pretty, not dramatic.
• Prosecco, the village. A small village on the coast near Trieste, at the far eastern end of the DOC. It gave the wine its name,⁶ and it is not where the famous vineyards are. Everyone gets this wrong. Now you won’t.

For a visit, the hills are where you want to be. Everything below is about them.

How to get there from Venice

• By train. Regional trains run from Venezia Santa Lucia through Treviso to Conegliano in about an hour.⁷ From Conegliano you need wheels: a driver, a tour or a taxi to the hills.
• By car. From Marco Polo airport, Valdobbiadene is about 70 km, roughly an hour’s drive.⁸ A car gives you the most freedom and exactly one problem, which is that someone has to stay sober.
• With a driver or a tour. The grown-up option if everyone wants to taste. Wineries and local companies run day trips from Venice and Treviso.

Your day from Venice

1. MorningTrain from Venezia Santa Lucia to Conegliano, about an hour, through Treviso.
2. Late morningDriver or tour west on the wine road: San Pietro di Feletto, then Refrontolo and the old mill.
3. LunchIn the hills, around Pieve di Soligo. Book, especially on a Sunday.
4. AfternoonA tasting near Valdobbiadene, booked ahead, with Cartizze above you.
5. EveningBack to Conegliano for the train, about an hour to Venice. Or stay the night.

The maths nobody does

Italy’s legal blood-alcohol limit is 0.05%, and drivers under 21 or with less than three years on their licence must be at zero.⁹ In every US state except Utah the limit is 0.08%.¹⁰ A tasting is five or six small pours. Three tastings before lunch is a lot of small pours. Do the arithmetic at the hotel, not at the third winery.

The Prosecco Road, stop by stop

The Strada del Prosecco began in 1966 as Italy’s first wine road. It runs about 50 km through the hills between Conegliano and Valdobbiadene,¹¹ village to village, and you can drive it in a morning or take three days and regret nothing.

• Valdobbiadene. The western end and the steepest country. Start here if you like your views early and your lunch late.
• Santo Stefano and Guia. Small villages on the high road, below the hill of Cartizze, with cellars that pour by appointment.
• Farra di Soligo and Pieve di Soligo. The middle of the road. Pieve is a proper market town, with somewhere to park and somewhere to eat.
• Refrontolo. Home of the Molinetto della Croda, a 17th-century stone mill whose foundations sit straight on the rock.¹² Opening hours change with the season, so check before you go.
• San Pietro di Feletto. A parish church high on the Feletto hills, with medieval frescoes under its portico¹³ and a view back over everything you just drove.
• Conegliano. The eastern end: a castle on the hill and Italy’s first school of viticulture and winemaking, founded in 1876.¹⁴

Walkers and cyclists have their own route, the Anello del Prosecco Superiore, a 15 km loop that starts at San Pietro di Barbozza, just outside Valdobbiadene.¹⁵ Expect hills. It is in the name.

Who you’ll meet: a field guide

The hills have their own social life, and it runs on Prosecco the way other places run on coffee. In fact it runs on both, at the same bar, all day. A short guide to the regulars:

• The morning crowd. A coffee, then a small glass of wine, standing up, before eleven. In Venice that glass is an ombra, “shade”: the story goes that wine sellers once followed the bell tower’s shadow across St Mark’s Square to keep their bottles cool.¹⁶
• The Sunday lunchers. Families up from Venice and Treviso for a long lunch in the hills. Book, or eat at three.
• The cyclists. Matching outfits, serious calves, and a glass at the top of every climb they consider earned.
• The harvest crowd. In September the roads fill with tractors, crates and people who suddenly have no time to talk to you. Be charming. Buy something.
• You. The visitor with a rental car and no plan for who drives. That is why you are reading this.

It runs on Prosecco the way other places run on coffee. In fact it runs on both, at the same bar.

Cartizze, and the hills worth the climb

Cartizze is a single hill of about 107 hectares just outside Valdobbiadene, so steep and so prized that it is reputedly the most expensive vineyard land in Italy.¹⁷ Its wine carries its own name on the label, Superiore di Cartizze, and a price to match.³

Around it are the Rive: 43 named hillside areas, each allowed to put its name on the bottle.³ If the label says Rive, the grapes come from one steep place, not from everywhere at once. Our guide to the types of Prosecco explains the rest of the label before you arrive.

Which bottles come from the hills?

1. Prosecco DOCThe wider area: nine provinces across the Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia, mostly flat.
2. Asolo Prosecco DOCGThe Asolo hills, to the west.
3. Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCGThe hills in this story, between the two towns.
4. Rive di …One of 43 named hillside areas inside those hills, with its name on the label.
5. Superiore di CartizzeOne hill of about 107 hectares above Valdobbiadene.

Widest at the top, one hill at the bottom. The narrower the place on the label, the steeper the slope.

When to go

1. JanPruning; cellars by appointment
2. FebPruning; quiet
3. MarVines wake upGood
4. AprBuds break; fresh greenGood
5. MayGreen hills, mild daysBest
6. JunFlowering; long eveningsBest
7. JulHot; grapes swellGood
8. AugHolidays; some wineries close
9. SepHarvest; busiestBest
10. OctGold leaves; last grapes inBest
11. NovFog and quiet
12. DecQuiet; short days

• May and June. Green vines, mild weather, fewer people. The best all-round choice.
• September. Harvest starts in early to mid September around Conegliano and later, toward the end of the month, up by Valdobbiadene.¹ The most atmospheric time, and the busiest for the wineries, so book tastings ahead.
• October. Gold hills and the new wine in the cellars.
• August. Hot, and Italy’s holiday month: some smaller wineries simply close. Go to the beach like everyone else.

Before you go: five things

1. Book tastings ahead. Most wineries here are small and family run, and many welcome visitors by appointment only.
2. Decide who drives before the first glass, not after the third.
3. Carry some cash. Small villages, small bars, narrow roads, long lunches. That is the point.
4. Learn two words on the label. Brut is drier than Extra Dry, which is the most confusing sentence in wine. The Brut Truth explains it.
5. Leave room in the suitcase. You will not believe us until you are at the check-in desk.

Can’t get to Italy this year?

Then bring the hills to the table. Bella Principessa comes from the province of Treviso, the same province as the hills, and it is a Brut, so it tastes like the place rather than like dessert. Pour it cold, at ten in the morning if you must, and tell everyone it’s research.