Drei Donà – Tenuta La Palazza

Emilia Romagna, Italy

Drei Donà - Tenuta La Palazza is a family wine estate above Massa di Vecchiazzano, just outside Forlì. It sits in the Predappio area of Romagna DOC, on hillside terraces of lime-rich clay. The Counts Drei Donà have farmed this land since the 1920s. Sangiovese is the heart of the cellar. Beside it stands a Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard planted in the early 1980s, a planting that helped redraw what a Romagna red could be.

Drei Donà – Tenuta La Palazza winery image 1

About Drei Donà – Tenuta La Palazza

Count Claudio Drei Donà gave up his law career in Forlì in the early 1980s to run the estate full time. He ended the old bulk wine trade and put the family name on bottles instead. He reshaped the vineyards and planted Romagna's first Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard raised from several vine clones. The grape was not even allowed in the region at the time. Chardonnay and Riesling followed. Today his children Enrico and Ida Vittoria run the cellar with their mother, Donna Giovanna, who has anchored the household from the start.

The estate covers 23 hectares, about 32 football pitches, split into three parcels facing south and south east. The soil is lime-rich clay threaded with sand. Vines share the land with almond trees, mulberries and Mediterranean pines. A watchtower from the 1400s, built in the time of Caterina Sforza, anchors the farmhouse. Predappio is the stretch of hills between Forlì, Castrocaro Terme and the town of Predappio. It has been one of twelve named areas inside Romagna DOC since 2011.

Claudio pushed the farming in a gentle direction early. In 1987 he founded Agricoltura Viva, a sustainable farming group inside Confagricoltura Forlì. The vineyards moved to integrated pest management in 1992 and gave up weedkillers for good. The whole estate finished its organic conversion in 2015, then began converting to biodynamic farming in 2020. The cellar runs entirely on solar power.

A few rows of vines planted before phylloxera still survive in the older parcels. In some years their fruit ferments on its own in terracotta jars. The rest of the cellar borrows the Bordeaux chateau model. Grapes are picked by hand, and each parcel ferments separately with its own natural yeasts. The young wine then moves slowly between vessels by gravity.

The wines age in a mix of large Slavonian oak casks, small French oak barrels and terracotta. Notturno, the Predappio DOC red, matures in the big casks. Vigna del Pruno, a single vineyard Sangiovese, ages in small barrels and terracotta jars alongside the Cabernet Sauvignon Magnificat and Graf Noir. Il Tornese, the estate white, carries on the Chardonnay Claudio first planted.

Drei Donà is the only estate in Emilia-Romagna that belongs to the Comitato Grandi Cru d'Italia, a club of 130 Italian fine wine producers. The family's quiet, slightly contrary style is part of why. There are no showpiece buildings here, just a working country house, vineyards, horses and a pack of Corgis. Visits keep the same spirit: a couple of guided tastings each day in the old stables, served with house bread and the estate's own olive oil.

Editorial · ItalianWines.co.uk

Plate I · EMILIA ROMAGNA

Drei Donà – Tenuta La Palazza on the Emilia Romagna wine atlas

Massa di Vecchiazzano - Via del Tesoro, 23, 47100 Forlì, Forlì-Cesena (Emilia Romagna)
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Visiting Drei Donà – Tenuta La Palazza

Editorially verified by ItalianWines.co.uk.

Tastings
Available
Tours
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Accommodation
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Booking
Walk-ins OK
Bookable online
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Experiences at Drei Donà – Tenuta La Palazza

Nothing here can be booked online yet. The experiences below are documented by our editors. The estate's contact details are in Practical info.

Hosted by the estate

TASTING

Estate visit and three-wine tasting

Guided walk through the vineyards and cellar followed by a seated tasting of three current-vintage wines in the old stables, served with the estate's home-baked bread and its own extra-virgin olive oil.

About 90 minutes €25 per person; under-18s free
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TASTING

Estate visit and three-wine tasting

Guided walk through the vineyards and cellar followed by a seated tasting of three current-vintage wines in the old stables, served with the estate's home-baked bread and its own extra-virgin olive oil.

About 90 minutes €25 per person; under-18s free
Enquire

Wines from Drei Donà – Tenuta La Palazza

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Wines for this winery are still being curated. Check back as the UK retailer selection expands.

Plan your visit

dreidona.it/
Massa di Vecchiazzano - Via del Tesoro, 23, 47100 Forlì, Forlì-Cesena (Emilia Romagna)
+39 0543769371
[email protected]

Common questions

  • The estate is at Massa di Vecchiazzano, just south of Forlì in Emilia-Romagna. It sits on the northern edge of the Predappio area of Romagna DOC.
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