The Wine: Orange Vespaiola Vespri 2021
Il Ceo Orange Vespaiola Vespri is a skin-contact natural wine made from 100% Vespaiola grown biodynamically in Veneto, Northern Italy. Extended maceration on the skins, no additives in the vineyard or cellar, unfined, unfiltered, no added sulfites. Medium body orange wine, pomegranate, ripe tropical fruit, apricot on the nose, citrusy palate with honey on the finish.
The Winery: Il Ceo
Il Ceo is a small winery of only 4 hectares founded in 2014 by Davide Andreatta located in the hills around the town of Breganze, Province of Vicenza, as well as in the Asolo hills, Province of Treviso. The main varietals grown at Il Ceo are Vespaiola, Groppella, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon. The farm is run biodynamically and all wines are made with no chemicals, additives, and no added sulfites. Production is at around 8000 bottles per year.
The Region: Veneto
Veneto is one of the most important wine regions of Italy, located in the North-Eastern corner of the Italian peninsula. It borders with Trentino-Alto Adige (north), Friuli-Venezia Giulia (north-east), Emilia-Romagna (south), and Lombardy (west).
The capital of Veneto is Venice, which is also its most populous city, followed by Verona, Padua, Vicenza, Treviso, and Rovigo. The east coast of Lake Garda, the biggest Italian lake, is part of Veneto and so is the tract of Alpine foothills called Venetian Prealps.
Veneto is the leading Italian region for the quantity of wine produced – even though wine-producing regions 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 of course 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 types 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 it is to rather peculiar winemaking techniques such as the grape drying technique employed to make Amarone della Valpolicella, Veneto’s most famous red wine.