Est. 1962 
12 wines 
Tastings
Tours
Booking required 
Wine area
Romagna
From Imola to Rimini, Sangiovese di Romagna and Albana DOCG carry the region's eastern half across clay hills and seaside vineyards.
Tenuta La Viola
Tenuta La Viola sits on the hills of Bertinoro in Romagna, on the side facing the Adriatic. The Gabellini family has farmed here since 1962, certified organic since 1999. About 22 hectares of vines, roughly thirty football pitches, give 50,000 to 60,000 bottles a year, mostly Sangiovese and Albana. The wines start on their own yeasts and age in big casks, concrete tanks and clay jars set into the ground. Visitors are welcome most days for a vineyard walk, a cellar visit and a tasting, booked a day ahead.
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Emilia Romagna
- Est. 1962
- 12 wines
- Tastings
- Tours
- Booking required
Wines from Tenuta La Viola
About Tenuta La Viola
The Gabellini family came to Bertinoro from inland Romagna and bought this land in 1962. The vines were already here, Sangiovese and Albana grown as low bush vines in the old way. Wine was part of daily farm life, poured for guests with pride. The first bottle under the estate's own name left the cellar in 1998, a Sangiovese called Il Colombarone. Its label shows Via Colombarone, the road that climbs from the plain to the hill town of Bertinoro past the family's vines.
Lidia is the heart of the estate and usually the one who greets visitors. Emilio, Camilla, Filippo and Stefano share the work in the vines, the cellar and the tasting room. Everything in the vineyard is done by hand. There is no sorting table in the cellar: the pickers choose the bunches in the row. The family has farmed organic, with certification, since 1999, and added biodynamic practices in 2018. No synthetic chemicals go on the vines. The grass between the rows is only ever mown, never sprayed with weedkiller. Today the vineyards cover about 22 hectares. Ten are the family's own and twelve are rented. Together they give 50,000 to 60,000 bottles a year. The estate belongs to FIVI, the association of independent growers who tend their own vines and bottle only their own wine. Even the bottles are the light kind, chosen to cut the carbon cost of making and moving glass.
The Bertinoro hills face the Adriatic, with the Apennines at their back, so a light breeze moves through the vines every day. Under the vineyards lies Spungone, the rock these hills are known for. It is a sandstone made of seashells cemented together about three million years ago, when this was shallow sea. The name comes from the local dialect word for its spongy look. The clay above it is full of lime, shells and old marine sand. The family credits this ground for the fresh acidity, deep colour and long life of its wines.
In the cellar the family prefers to let each wine start on the yeasts that came in with the grapes, with nothing added. The wines then rest on their fine lees in big wooden casks, concrete tanks and, for some, smaller barrels. Three wines carry the name InTerra: a Sangiovese, an Albana and a Trebbiano. They ferment on their skins and age in Georgian clay amphorae set into the ground, the way wine was made here long before steel. The range starts with Oddone, a bright Sangiovese raised only in steel. At the top sits P.Honorii, the riserva, from the estate's first vineyard, Vigna Vecchia. It spends about a year in big casks and concrete, then at least fourteen months in bottle. Venticinque blends Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot with a little Sangiovese, all from the plot the estate numbers 25. The whites are Frangipane, a dry Albana, and Famoso Intrigo, from an old grape that was nearly forgotten. Trucce is a Trebbiano left two weeks on its skins. A pair of lightly fizzy pet-nat wines called Bolleggio, one white and one rosé, completes the list.
P.Honorii is the wine the guides notice. The 2019 took the top marks of both Vitae, the Italian sommeliers' guide, and Bibenda, and the 2022 won the Corona, the highest award in Vinibuoni d'Italia 2027. The 2023 Il Colombarone earned that wine's best scores so far, among them 93 points from Wine Enthusiast. Six of the estate's wines scored 90 points or more in the latest guides. A tasting here ends under the portico that looks straight onto the vines, or in the tasting room in winter. Bread and the estate's olive oil come with the shortest tasting, a board of local cured meats and other local produce with the longer ones.
Plate I · EMILIA ROMAGNA
Tenuta La Viola on the Emilia Romagna wine atlas
Winery
Tenuta La Viola
Bertinoro, Forlì-Cesena · Romagna
Denominations Produced
Wine areaDOC
Grapes Used
Visit & Experiences
3 bookable experiences at Tenuta La Viola
3 tastings, checked by our editors. From €20.
Hosted by the estate3 available
Tasting & Tour
Essential Experience: Tour and Wine Tasting at Tenuta La Viola in Bertinoro, Romagna
From €20 per person
English · Español and Italiano
Welcome in Romagna: Land, Vineyard, Wine, People, Passion. Visit our winery and taste 3 wines paired with bread & our olive oil.
Book this tour
via Winedering
Tasting & Tour
Ultimate Experience Plus: Tour and Wine Tasting at Tenuta La Viola in Bertinoro, Romagna
From €40 per person
English · Español and Italiano
Welcome to Romagna! Visit our winery in Bertinoro and taste 6 wines with a local platter!
Book this tour
via Winedering
Tasting & Tour
Full Experience Plus: Tour & Wine tasting at Tenuta La Viola in Bertinoro, Romagna
From €25 per person
English · Español and Italiano
Welcome to Romagna! Visit our winery in Bertinoro and taste 4 wines with a local platter.
Book this tour
via Winedering
Tours that visit Tenuta La ViolaRun by a tour operator. The estate is one stop of several. Booking completes on the platform that runs the tour.
Tour & food tasting at Tenuta la Viola
Tenuta La Viola · stop 1 of 2
1 - 1.5 hours
From €25 per person
Departs Bertinoro
Book this tour
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Plan your visit
Via Colombarone, 888, 47032 Bertinoro, Forlì-Cesena (Emilia Romagna)
What Tenuta La Viola makes
Tenuta La Viola's current bottle selection is easiest to understand through Sangiovese and Albana.
Key grapes
Common questions
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Yes, during the week and at weekends, but only with a booking made by 3pm the day before. Visits start at 10.30am, 3pm or 5pm and follow one route: a short walk to the Vigna del Sole with its view over Bertinoro, a look inside the cellar, then the tasting. You book with the form on the estate's visits page, by phone on +39 0543 445496 or by email to [email protected].
Plan a visit
Ask us to arrange your visit to Tenuta La Viola
This form reaches the ItalianWines.co.uk team, not the winery. Tell us when you would like to come and how many you are: we contact Tenuta La Viola for you and come back with availability and prices, usually within two working days.
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