Croci
Massimiliano Croci is the soul of the small wine estate Croci, a winery in the Colli Piacentini that bases its production philosophy on values such as genuineness and territoriality. Together with his brother Giuseppe, Massimiliano nurtures a family tradition that is almost a century old, started by their grandfather Giuseppe, a farmer and son of farmers. He moved in 1935 to the hill of Monterosso, which overlooks the village of Castell’Arquato, beginning to renovate a multifunctional farm that had a stable and fields for forage, activities that accompanied the cultivation of grapes. In the decades that followed, the 9 children of Giuseppe emigrated, some to Argentina and others to London, all except Ermano, the father of Massimiliano and Giuseppe, who stayed to help his parents. In the 1970s, the estate produced bulk wine to sell to private individuals and taverns, while in 1980 Ermano, encouraged by his wife Silvana, labeled the first bottles, always following the Emilian tradition of refermented wines in the bottle, never yielding to the advent of the autoclave. Today the stable is no longer there but the vines and fields remain, and from these, Massimiliano produces a high-quality flour.
At an altitude of 250 meters above sea level, on clayey and sandy soils of Pliocene origin, the family-run estate Croci cultivates the traditional grape varieties of the Colli Piacentini, namely Barbera, Croatina, Malvasia di Candia Aromatica, Trebbiano, Ortrugo, and Moscato, as well as the French varieties Sauvignon Blanc and Marsanne. The first fermentation occurs spontaneously in steel or concrete tanks, with skin maceration even for white grapes. For the refermentations, the Croci family uses, as per Emilian tradition, the Ancestral Method, which consists of bottling the must-wine with still some residual sugars, so that in spring, when the temperatures rise again, the indigenous yeasts transform the sugars inside the bottle, producing a natural effervescence. An exception is the Spumante Pas Dosé ‘Alfiere’, made using the Classic Method.Classic.
The wine production of the Croci winery is therefore focused on refermented wines in the bottle, ancestral expressions of the Colli Piacentini territory. These are labels with a straightforward and direct personality, characterized by an almost dangerous smoothness!
Massimiliano Croci is the soul of the small wine estate Croci, a winery in the Colli Piacentini that bases its production philosophy on values such as genuineness and territoriality. Together with his brother Giuseppe, Massimiliano nurtures a family tradition that is almost a century old, started by their grandfather Giuseppe, a farmer and son of farmers. He moved in 1935 to the hill of Monterosso, which overlooks the village of Castell’Arquato, beginning to renovate a multifunctional farm that had a stable and fields for forage, activities that accompanied the cultivation of grapes. In the decades that followed, the 9 children of Giuseppe emigrated, some to Argentina and others to London, all except Ermano, the father of Massimiliano and Giuseppe, who stayed to help his parents. In the 1970s, the estate produced bulk wine to sell to private individuals and taverns, while in 1980 Ermano, encouraged by his wife Silvana, labeled the first bottles, always following the Emilian tradition of refermented wines in the bottle, never yielding to the advent of the autoclave. Today the stable is no longer there but the vines and fields remain, and from these, Massimiliano produces a high-quality flour.
At an altitude of 250 meters above sea level, on clayey and sandy soils of Pliocene origin, the family-run estate Croci cultivates the traditional grape varieties of the Colli Piacentini, namely Barbera, Croatina, Malvasia di Candia Aromatica, Trebbiano, Ortrugo, and Moscato, as well as the French varieties Sauvignon Blanc and Marsanne. The first fermentation occurs spontaneously in steel or concrete tanks, with skin maceration even for white grapes. For the refermentations, the Croci family uses, as per Emilian tradition, the Ancestral Method, which consists of bottling the must-wine with still some residual sugars, so that in spring, when the temperatures rise again, the indigenous yeasts transform the sugars inside the bottle, producing a natural effervescence. An exception is the Spumante Pas Dosé ‘Alfiere’, made using the Classic Method.Classic.
The wine production of the Croci winery is therefore focused on refermented wines in the bottle, ancestral expressions of the Colli Piacentini territory. These are labels with a straightforward and direct personality, characterized by an almost dangerous smoothness!
