Donati Camillo
Camillo Donati embodies one of the most genuine and authentic stories of Emilia's winemaking tradition. Delving into this rich and joyful chapter means experiencing firsthand the value of a wine as criticized as it is praised, like Lambrusco. For Italy's most famous sparkling red, it hasn't always been smooth sailing, and the realities that have helped preserve the traditional roots of this wine deserve to be celebrated. In Felino, 20 kilometers south of Parma, in the most genuine corner of Emilia, Camillo Donati acts as a true guardian of the land, a spokesperson for a model of agriculture with ancient roots that today, more than ever, is a model to be emulated.
The Camillo Donati winery is a 100% family-run wine business. It started with grandfather Orlando, the first to plant vines in 1930, followed by father Orlando. Camillo had two great and demanding teachers, with whom he began to take his first steps in the vineyard, gathering nuggets of rural wisdom, before embarking on his path as an artisan.Today, the estate covers 15 hectares, divided into two distinct plots: the first on the hill of Sant'Andrea di Barbiano, about 300 meters above sea level, characterized by soils rich in clay, silt, and limestone with a favorable southeast exposure, and the second rented in the locality of Vidiana, 250 meters above sea level with vines that are 30 years old. There is only one philosophy in their approach to nature: no fertilizers and no herbicides, but plenty of biodiversity among the rows.
Camillo Donati's wines aim to be concrete, convivial, and territorial: no selected yeasts are used, but different pied de cuve are prepared using only estate-grown grapes, temperatures are not forced, and no clarification or filtration is applied. The undisputed 'kings' of the winery remain the bottle-refermented wines, those natural sparklings that Camillo, along with other winemakers in the 'Emilia Sur Li' group, strives to promote and communicate. "For us, all this is not just a job, but a way of life that allows us to live insymbiosis with Nature, sharing the wonderful annual cycle of the vine, savoring the changing of the seasons." This is how Camillo writes, and this is how one should live this profession!
Camillo Donati embodies one of the most genuine and authentic stories of Emilia's winemaking tradition. Delving into this rich and joyful chapter means experiencing firsthand the value of a wine as criticized as it is praised, like Lambrusco. For Italy's most famous sparkling red, it hasn't always been smooth sailing, and the realities that have helped preserve the traditional roots of this wine deserve to be celebrated. In Felino, 20 kilometers south of Parma, in the most genuine corner of Emilia, Camillo Donati acts as a true guardian of the land, a spokesperson for a model of agriculture with ancient roots that today, more than ever, is a model to be emulated.
The Camillo Donati winery is a 100% family-run wine business. It started with grandfather Orlando, the first to plant vines in 1930, followed by father Orlando. Camillo had two great and demanding teachers, with whom he began to take his first steps in the vineyard, gathering nuggets of rural wisdom, before embarking on his path as an artisan.Today, the estate covers 15 hectares, divided into two distinct plots: the first on the hill of Sant'Andrea di Barbiano, about 300 meters above sea level, characterized by soils rich in clay, silt, and limestone with a favorable southeast exposure, and the second rented in the locality of Vidiana, 250 meters above sea level with vines that are 30 years old. There is only one philosophy in their approach to nature: no fertilizers and no herbicides, but plenty of biodiversity among the rows.
Camillo Donati's wines aim to be concrete, convivial, and territorial: no selected yeasts are used, but different pied de cuve are prepared using only estate-grown grapes, temperatures are not forced, and no clarification or filtration is applied. The undisputed 'kings' of the winery remain the bottle-refermented wines, those natural sparklings that Camillo, along with other winemakers in the 'Emilia Sur Li' group, strives to promote and communicate. "For us, all this is not just a job, but a way of life that allows us to live insymbiosis with Nature, sharing the wonderful annual cycle of the vine, savoring the changing of the seasons." This is how Camillo writes, and this is how one should live this profession!
