Orto and other Venice vineyards.

The vineyard of Mazzorbo where Dorona is planted.

Venice has at least three vineyards, possibly more as we shall see. There is the one at Mazzorbo where they have opened a Michelin starred restaurant called Venissa and revived the grape called Dorona. Next the monastery vineyard at San Francesco della Vigna in Castello and now the Orto estate on the island of Sant'Erasmo, some way off from the islands of Murano and Vignole. Vignole must have had vineyards in the past. It was known also as the Isola delle sette vigne but nothing remains of these.


We have covered Dorona/Mazzorbo in this blog although we have still not tasted Dorona. At E.90 for 50cl it seemed an unneccesary extravagance especially as there were those who muttered that Dorona was just some kind of Garganega. D'Agata says 'In fact Dorona is distinct from Garganega though closely related to it.'

In addition we had seen this bottle in supermarkets in Venice and wrongly thought this must also be Dorona because it claimed to be the wine of the Doges as did Dorona.

In fact it comes from another island, Sant'Erasmo which served as the market garden of Venice in former times. Sant Erasmo is accessible by vaporetto so off we went to check out the wine called Orto.

Having made an appointment we got there early to have a look around and entered a different world. Flat, sparsely inhabited with only one hotel, Sant'Erasmo still has a few cultivated fields growing we knew not what but the general impression was one of remoteness although you could see the spires of Venice from there.

Mercifully near the vaporetto stop was the estate of Orto.

Michel Thoulouze, owner and founder of Orto.

A Frenchman called Michel Thoulouze bought the property and planted the vineyard relatively recently. He tells the story as follows on the website;

In the 16th Century the island was covered in vineyards. Michel Thoulouze and his family decided to relaunch wine production on the island using the traditional methods of the local farmers and the expertise of Lydia and Claude Bourguignon ('Doctors of the Earth' [Agronomists?]) and Alain Graillot whose Crozes Hermitage wines have a worldwide reputation. The resulting wine, ORTO, has all the character of this special island and it is the only wine cultivated within the territorial boundaries of Venice.

Pamela of Orto

We were received by an extremely knowledgeable and kind person called Pamela.

Tasting room and shop

Pamela told the story of how the winery had been set up where none existed before and why the grape varieties Malvasia d'Istria and Vementino had been selected.

Modern air-conditioned chaix

Malvasia Istriana vines

The island is divided in two by the main road. One side is exposed to the sea with more salt in the soil. This was judged to be appropriate for the cultivation of Vermentino which traditionally is grown on the coast of Liguria or in Sardegna. On the other side, the soils are good for growing Malvasia Istriana, a more common variety in the Veneto and of course, Istria. D'Agata's 'Native Wine Grapes of Italy' is generally a pleasure to read but the entry on Malvasia Istriana gets rather technical for non-scientists and so we were not able to follow it so easily. It discusses this Malvasia in the context of other Malvasias and states that the wines are either aromatic or non-aromatic, never both. It is a hardy grape and has good resistance to many diseases apart from Oidium.

Pamela told us there is no use of chemicals or artificial fertilisers in the vineyard and agricultural machinery is not used as it may compact the soil - something she was very keen not to do. She related how breezes from the Adriatic kept the vineyards free from diseases. The vines have been planted ungrafted. This is considered to give a better taste.

We had let slip we did a bit of vine-growing ourselves in the UK and Pamela was full of valuable suggestions. These included watering new vines every day! We had watered our 550 new vines only once since planting and indeed when we got back, about 15% had been lost. She also mentioned that the vines should be planted on a Berm. At first we were surprised she knew this term but it is the same in Italian and English.

Our berms in England (Thames Valley).

By a fluke we have indeed made some berms after grubbing up our old vines and so we seemed to have got this right.

We had read that there were other varieties planted at Orto in addition to Malvasia Istriana and Vermentino but Pamela flatly ruled this out. Strange because in their own website is written that the vineyard has

'an assembly of antique Italian grape varieties with a dominance of the Istrien Malvoisie.'

Also curious is the mention of other grapes in Andy Paynter's review in Chambers St. Wines newsletter (our underlinings);

The 2014 Sant’Erasmo Bianco is a striking wine grown on the island of San Erasmo within the lagoon of Venice.  Premised on Malvasia Istriana but comprised of a number of other local cultivars all planted on its own root stock, the wine is deeply colored in the glass, with a nose reminiscent of ripe golden apples and honeysuckle undercut by a salty tone. The palate is bold, with an initial attack of juicy orchard fruit and rich texture, followed by a honeyed note giving way to a long savory finish. More than anything else, the Orto shows a stern backbone of minerality bracing its mellow acidity and weight on the palate.

Despite claims to being the only vineyard within the territorial boundaries of Venice, we knew otherwise and indeed were all the more determined to visit the third vineyard, this one very much inside Venice.

San Francesco in Vigna with vineyard top left.

The church and monastery of San Francesco in Vigna is an extensive complex. A large vineyard belonging to the Ziani family already existed here in the 13th century but the land was left to the church on the death of Marco Ziani and the church was built on and around the vineyard. 

The vineyard at San Francesco della vigna

The modern vineyard dates from 2012 when abandoned vines were cleared and new ones planted on 800 square metres of ground. These were primarily Teroldego with Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso and a small amount of Merlot. 

These choices may appear random but the advisors including Gianmarco Vinco and Carlo Santi considered them suitable for the soil and believed in their resistant qualities. 

The first vintage (250 bottles) 'Harmonia Mundi' was made in 2015

Manuel with some wine he kindly let us have delivered to his shop.

Our friend Manuel Casagrande at Al Canton del Vin, our favourite Vino Sfuso shop in Venice told us the way to visit the vineyard at San Francesco della Vigna was to ask for 'Antonio'. We hung about what looked like the entrance to the monastery for a while until a brother came out. He explained that he was in a hurry otherwise he would have shown us the vineyard himself but suggested we returned later.

Cloister of San Francesco in Vigna.

This we did and in the absence of anyone to be seen we walked around a cloister until we came to a door. There was a bell with an entryphone so we rang it. A voice presently answered and we explained what we wanted. The voice asked it we didn't mean Padre Antoine. We agreed this might be the person we needed, so after another rather longer wait, the first cleric we has bumped into earlier (the one in a hurry) came out. Clearly he was Padre Antoine. This time he didn't offer to show us the vineyard but explained that we needed Fratello Antonio. Another long wait. In the end a disembodied voice told us to come back another day because Fratello Antonio had 'gone out in the boat.' We thought this worthy of 'Father Ted' until we remembered we were in Venice after all.

The Giardino mistico (with vines) of the Carmelitani Scalzi, Venice.

By the way, we have also read that vineyards may exist at other churches in Venice including San Michele in Isola (church of Venice's main cemetary), the Monastero Suore Clarisse on Giudecca and the Carmelitane Scalze in Cannaregio. 

Seen on Sant'Erasmo.