Mellere comes from the name of a vine situated at the foot of the first piedmont hills in the Treviso province, in the territory of Conegliano Valdobbiadene, half way between the Venetian Dolomites and the Venetian lagoon.
This privileged position guarantees a unique combination from a microclimate point of view, which combined with the favourable composition of the soil, makes this territory ideal for the cultivation of the Glera variety used to make vintage Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore D.O.C.G. (Guaranteed and Controlled Designation of Origin).
Vines have been cultivated here since ancient times with written testimony from the 6th century and then in the period of the Republic of Venice.
The first mention of the cultivation Prosecco in the Conegliano Valdobbiadene hills go back to the late 1700s and in the mid-1800s, the variety started being vinified as a monovarietal.
This territory represents a unique, cultural landscape; it delineates the manual work combined with the ancient, sparkling wine tradition.
Unique Territory
The extraordinary succession of the parallel hills that run from east to west are a landscape gem of the Veneto region and have antique origins that date back to the lifting of the seabed. A part of the hills was then remodelled by the Dolomite glacier which brought sediment downstream. The resulting soil is very deep and made up of a composition of stone and sand with a lot of clay. The area which wasn’t affected by the glacier maintained its original marine soil, composed of marl and sandstone, less deep and with greater filtering abilities. All this determines the coexistence of different types of soil and hill structure.
Cultivation and climate
The vine is cultivated only on the sunnier side of the hills at a height between 50 and 500 metres above sea level, while the northern side is often covered in woods. A landscape formed by an infinite web of vineyards located on steep slopes alternating with gentler slopes and glimpses on small hamlets and antique peasant homes make this a unique and picturesque environment.
Exposure to the sun, the microclimate and the soil features favour the development of aromatic substances in the grapes during the ripening stage. As a matter of fact, the fascinating peculiarities of every wine come through in the bouquet.
In this territory viticulture has been perfectly integrated and developed in line with the geographical, physical and climatic peculiarities of the landscape, creating a sort of coevolution between man and territory. The landscape is so unique that there has been the desire to candidate the area as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.