Farnea Rosso Ombra 2022

Marco Buratti’s Azienda Agricola Farnea occupies around two hectares of vines and three hectares of woodlands in a beautiful part of the Colli Euganei National Park. The land here has been planted with grapes since the eighteenth century when the vignaioli were drawn to the area’s vibrant volcanic soils. Marco’s vines are worked by hand without the use of chemicals, a way of working he had decided on before clearing the forest to plant vines here in 2003.

The “cantina” consists of a small room at the edge of Marco’s house strewn with concrete and fiberglass vats, old barrels and not a lot else. These tools, along with the grapes, are all Marco uses to make what we consider to be perhaps the most drinkable wines we have found in Italy. Lifted, textured and true, once opened, a bottle of Marco’s wine does not last long. We only wish he made more.

Veneto is one of the most important wine regions in Italy. It is located in the northeastern corner of the peninsula. It borders Trentino-Alto Adige (north), Friuli-Venezia Giulia (northeast), Emilia-Romagna (south), and Lombardy (west). Veneto's most populous capital is Venice, followed by Verona, Padua, Vicenza, Treviso, and Rovigo. The east coast of Lake Garda, the biggest Italian lake, is part of Veneto, as is the tract of Alpine foothills called Venetian Prealps.

Veneto is the leading Italian region in wine production, even though wine-producing areas such as Piedmont, Tuscany, Lombardy, Puglia, and Sicily all have bigger territories. Some of its most famous wines are Amarone della Valpolicella, Valpolicella, Soave, and Prosecco. Other less-known but equally delicious wines are Recioto della Valpolicella, Recioto di Gambellara, Raboso del Piave, and Bardolino.

Veneto's main characteristic is perhaps the great variety of wine produced, obtained mostly from indigenous grape varietals – Corvina, Glera, and Garganega being the most common. This is due as much to its specific geography and climate as to rather peculiar winemaking techniques, such as the grape drying technique employed to make Amarone della Valpolicella, Veneto's most famous red wine.