L’Antica Quercia

L’Antica Quercia

Valdobbiadene, Prosecco, Italy

L’Antica Quercia sits in the hills of Scomigo, just north of Conegliano, on a beautiful 25-hectare estate of vineyards, olive trees, woodland and pomegranate orchards. At its highest point stands the enormous ancient oak from which the estate takes its name, overlooking a landscape that stretches from the Dolomites towards Venice. The estate was originally founded by Mr Riello, before Claudio Francavilla and his father Luigi took over in 2001. What followed was a gradual rethinking of how the land should be farmed and, eventually, of what Prosecco itself can be. They were among the pioneers of organic farming in the region, converting the estate to organics and later embracing biodynamics at a time when very few of their neighbours were working this way.

Today L’Antica Quercia remains one of a small number of growers making genuinely natural expressions of Prosecco. In a region dominated by highly technical winemaking, cultured yeasts and the pursuit of consistency, Claudio has continually pushed in the opposite direction. The work in the vineyard is meticulous, but once healthy grapes arrive in the cellar the aim is to interfere as little as possible.

Over the years this has meant rediscovering methods that belong as much to the past as to the modern low-intervention movement. Wines are fermented with indigenous yeasts, often without sulphur, and several are refermented naturally in bottle without yeasts or sugar in the old col fondo tradition, remaining on their lees rather than being filtered and clarified. Their Ancestrale takes this idea even further, capturing the end of the original fermentation in early spring and allowing the remaining grape sugars to create the bubbles naturally in bottle. In recent years they have also experimented with skin maceration and aging in amphora, the results of which have been fascinating.

These aren't experiments for the sake of being different. They are part of Claudio's ongoing search for the purest expression of Glera and the hills he farms. The resulting wines can feel a long way from conventional Prosecco: textured, savoury, energetic and full of character, while retaining the freshness and drinkability that makes the region's wines so compelling.

For us, L’Antica Quercia represents what Prosecco can be when you strip away the industrial processes that have come to define so much of the category. In the process we truly believe they are producing some of the purest and most expressive wines we have found in the region.