Cartizze Site Features

What there is to see is agricultural structure. The slope is worked in ciglioni -- narrow grassed earth terraces cut into a gradient of thirty degrees and more, held by their own turf rather than by stone walls.

Nothing here can be worked by machine. Every operation, harvest included, is done by hand, and the labour cost per hectare is several times that of flat vineyard. That is the actual explanation for the price.

The hill's shape does the rest: a south-facing amphitheatre of moraine and clay that drains fast and holds warmth, with the Prealps behind cutting the north wind.

The terraced amphitheatre

Best seen from the road between San Pietro di Barbozza and Saccol, where the whole slope reads at once.

The ciglioni up close

Walk a marked path rather than driving past -- the hand-cut terraces only make sense at close range.

Tasting the difference

Several cellars on the hill pour Cartizze beside their standard Superiore, which is the only way to judge whether the premium means anything to you.

The wider road

Cartizze sits at the western end of the Strada del Prosecco.

The hill rises immediately north of Valdobbiadene, bounded by the hamlets of San Pietro di Barbozza, Santo Stefano and Saccol, with the Piave valley below to the south and Monte Cesen behind.