| The Ruggeri winery, which was established in 1950 by Giustino Bisol, was originally housed in small premises in the village of Santo Stefano di Valdobbiadene. After a temporary move to a larger site in the centre of the village, in the early Nineties it was relocated to new, larger and more rational premises which can receive and process almost 3,000 tons of grapes which are brought there every harvest. The Prosecco Superiore DOCG grapes are usually delivered by over a hundred vine-growers. Nearly all of them have their vineyards in the municipality of Valdobbiadene, while 25 also grow Cartizze grapes. It should be noted that many of the superior vineyards lie in the historic districts of S. Pietro di Barbozza. Santo Stefano and Saccol, which have always been renowned for producing the best in terms of quality. Ruggeri owns a small vineyard of Cartizze and 20 hectares on the nearby Montello, 12 of them are cultivated with Pinot Grigio and Glera (traditionally called Prosecco). About 1 hectare is dedicated to the growing of Recantina, an ancient and authochtonous red grape variety which was recovered thanks to the hard work of cooperation with the Istituto Sperimentale Per la Viticoltura di Conegliano (School of Viticulture of Conegliano). The Ruggeri winery is well equipped to cope with the considerable harvest; it has two fully independent lines for receiving the grapes and 5 ‘soft’ presses, thereby ensuring separation of the various vineyard harvests also at the busiest times. For about 20 years, annual production has been around the one million bottle mark, 60% of which is distributed in Italy and the rest to 35 countries worldwide. |
