The Pizzolato family has been recorded at Villorba since at least 1719. Settimo Pizzolato and his father Gino set up the present winery in 1981, and in 1991 Settimo took the whole farm organic. Almost nobody on the Treviso plain did that then. It has stayed organic ever since, and the family still owns and runs it. Settimo's wife Sabrina Rodelli handles export, and his children Federico and Stefania run production and administration; all four are co-owners.
The scale surprises people. The vineyards reached 58 hectares, about 80 football pitches, by 1999, and since then the winery has also bought grapes from other certified organic growers. The winery says production passed nine million bottles in 2021, almost all of it sparkling; its own figures for 2022 are about 7.5 million bottles of sparkling wine and 650,000 of still wine. The sparkling wines took off in Scandinavia, the brand was in 18 countries by 2016, and the United States, first reached in 1999, became its tenth-largest export market. In 2022 the family added a second estate, Casale Terzo at Colle Val d'Elsa in Tuscany, with a small organic production of Chianti and olive oil.
Vegan came early. Since 2012 the wines have carried the Vegan Society's trademark, so they are cleared without egg white, milk protein or fish gelatine. The range is wide for an organic house. There is Prosecco DOC in several styles, from Extra Brut to Extra Dry and a rosé, plus two Prosecco Superiore DOCG. There are wines with no added sulphites, and reds, whites and rosés. There are sweet passito wines too, and since 2019 wines from disease-resistant grape varieties that need far less spraying.
The paperwork backs the farming. Pizzolato became a Società Benefit in 2022, a company form that writes public benefit into its statutes, and gained Equalitas sustainability certification in 2023. It has published a sustainability report every year since 2017. Bottles use 94 per cent recycled glass, labels are made from grape skins and recycled paper, and 570 solar panels sit on the winery roof.
Visiting is easy to arrange. The Bio Tour Selection is 90 minutes for 25 euros, the Prestige and Sparkling tours run two hours for 35 euros, and a one-hour cellar tasting costs 18 euros. Couples can book a three-hour picnic at the winery for 60 euros, and on Saturday mornings there is a free tasting. Tours and tastings are booked online through the winery's calendar; the tiramisu experience, two and a half hours, is on request. There is a shop at the winery.
Veneto
Est. 1981 
2 wines 
Tastings
Tours
Booking required 
Glera
Raboso
