Calalta

Artisan winemaking from the hills of Bassano del Grappa, Veneto

snapshot

Region: Bassano del Grappa, Veneto, Italy
Style: Still wines, freshness-driven, minimal intervention
Grapes: Riesling, Bronner, Cabernet Franc, Syrah, local varieties
Farming: Organic, hand-worked, no chemical treatments
Winemaking: Spontaneous fermentations, unfiltered, no fining, minimal SO₂
Signature: Pre-Alpine precision — drinkability and transparency over power

“Wine is made in the vineyard. In the cellar, we try not to get in the way.”

CALALTA
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HOW THEY GOT HERE

Calalta sits in the hills around Bassano del Grappa, a zone more associated with industry and Prosecco than with quiet, considered viticulture. That contrast is part of the point. In 2017, Nicola took over his family's property and began reshaping it around a single idea: wine as a direct expression of place, made without shortcuts or stylistic ambition beyond clarity.

He was joined by his partner Giulia, and together they built the project incrementally — one vineyard plot at a time, one vintage at a time. There was no manifesto, no pivot toward natural wine as a category. The direction came from observation: what the land needed, what each season offered, and what the wines revealed when handled with as little interference as possible.

What defines Calalta today is restraint — not minimalism for aesthetic reasons, but because Nicola and Giulia have found that the less they impose, the more the site comes through. The work is ongoing, driven by a desire to understand their land more precisely with each passing year rather than to repeat a formula.

Where The Wine Is Born

The vineyards sit between 150 and 200 metres above sea level at the foot of Monte Grappa, in the transitional zone where the Alps begin their descent toward the Venetian plain. This is a different Veneto — cooler, more vertical, further from the warmth and volume that characterise the region's better-known wines. Alpine air flows down through the valleys at night, slowing ripening and locking in acidity. Daytime sun completes the cycle, building phenolic ripeness without heat stress.

The soils are a layered mix of limestone, clay, and gravel — varied enough across the estate that each parcel behaves differently, but consistent in the freshness and tension they deliver to the fruit. There is no single dominant geology here, which keeps both Nicola and Giulia attentive to each plot individually rather than managing the estate as a uniform block.

The varieties planted reflect the site's logic: Riesling, Bronner, Cabernet Franc, and Syrah alongside local grapes — choices oriented toward aromatic precision and structural clarity rather than weight or extraction. This is a landscape that rewards patience and punishes overreach.

BASSANO
DEL GRAPPA

How the wine feels

Quiet Precision

Nothing loud, nothing forced.

Natural Balance

Freshness, texture, and ease coexist.

Everyday Depth

Wines that reveal more with each glass, not with each explanation.
Calalta - Davvero 2023

Calalta - Davvero 2023

Calalta - Davvero 2023
€22,90 EUR
FOR THE NERDS

Calalta's vineyards are planted between 150 and 200 metres above sea level on the pre-Alpine slopes of Monte Grappa, in the province of Vicenza. Soils vary across parcels — a mix of calcareous clay, gravel, and alluvial deposits — with the limestone component contributing the mineral tension that runs through the entire range. The estate grows Riesling, Bronner, Cabernet Franc, and Syrah alongside local varieties, a selection chosen for its alignment with the site's cool-climate logic rather than regional convention.

Farming is fully organic, hand-managed, and guided by close seasonal observation — no chemical inputs, no formulaic intervention schedule. In the cellar, fruit is carefully sorted before spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts. Wines are bottled unfiltered and unfined, with minimal SO₂ additions.

The approach is not ideological but practical: every decision is made in response to the vintage rather than applied uniformly across the range. Nicola and Giulia treat experimentation as part of the ongoing process of understanding their land — adjusting vessel choices, maceration times, and élevage length as their knowledge of each parcel deepens. Production is small, and the wines change meaningfully from year to year — a feature, not a flaw.

“If a wine is easy to drink, it’s not simple — it’s well made.”