le vigne di alice
“Her vision was – and is – to bottle artisanal, grower Prosecco that speaks of the grapes and soil”
Domaine Overview
Year Founded: 2004
Winemaker: Cinzia Canzian
Location: Veneto, Northeast Italy
Size: 12 hectares
Grapes:
Boschera, Verdiso, Glera, Marzemino
Farming: Practicing organic, No herbicides or pesticides
Cinzia Canzian, after an experience of almost two decades working for her husband’s winery and the Prosecco consortium, started Le Vigne di Alice in 2004, inspired by memories of her grandmother Alice’s osteria or tavern, where conviviality and wines like A Fondo and Tajad flowed. Her vision was – and is – to bottle artisanal, grower Prosecco that speaks of the grapes and soil, from vineyards at the base of the Dolomites near her home, but also to make sparkling wines that are bone-dry Brut, or even Brut Nature (i.e., no dosage). We call it Prosecco for non-Prosecco lovers (a category that includes us). Alice’s Brut Nature style was the first in the Prosecco area to really get the attention of sommeliers and wine lovers looking for something to pair instead of Champagne, and it is still considered one of the best.
Cinzia could have stopped exploring with her single-vineyard Brut Nature, which has been a delicious mainstay of many tables (and countless weddings) for years. Instead, she pushed on to explore different fermentation methods. She says all this parsing has helped her understand even better how to reflect her grape and soil terroir. Cinzia recently added two wines made with secondary fermentation in the bottle: .g (Metodo Classico, or Champagne method) and P.S. (Metodo Integrale; i.e., not disgorged). Rounding things out are two easy going daily drinkers:Tajad, the old-school Prosecco blend from Vittorio Veneto made from local antique and now rare varieties; Cinzia’s grandfather made this same blend for her grandmother’s osteria in the 1950’s, and Osé, a Brut Nature rosé that’s made with the local Marzemino as the added red variety.
We see Alice as a winery that stuck to its guns to make Prosecco in a natural and Brut style, calling into question what ‘traditional’ Prosecco from the 50’s and 60’s really meant, when it would have been easy to have just gone with the Extra-Dry sweet-money flow. For that we are grateful, and it’s the reason we’ve been drinking, selling, and celebrating with these wines for years.
