Ingredients of the highest quality are required to create a truly great wine.

The Canneto Pavese and Montù Beccaria properties of the Calvi Winery guarantee this quality at all levels: from the vine itself, to the prime position of the vineyards and soil type, to meticulous cultivation and selection of vines - all essential factors in the delicate equilibrium that produces excellent wines.

Tradition, experience and the latest technology are all required to extract the utmost richness from the grapes and translate a great harvest into a great wine.

The soil types found throughout the Estate's 35 hectares of vineyards are calcareous and clay marls. The vineyards themselves are almost entirely south-facing with a perfect micro-climate for the development of a prestigious product.

Our roots, like those of our vines, go deep. In fact, the Calvi Winery has been tending its vineyards over these splendid hills since 1893.

Our grape harvest is carried out with almost ritual scrupulousness, in order that each bunch of fruit arrives intact at the winery. Here, a combination of traditional know-how and modern technology are judiciously employed.

But the wines have the last word, each expressing its own individual personality: here is youthful exuberance with its richness and versatility, side by side with the full, imposing structure of those wines that have acquired the wisdom of age.

The inhabitants of the Lombardy Region are proud of their Oltrepò area, and rightly so: here, among its gently-sloping hills dotted with villages and castles built by the once all-powerful Sforza, Visconti and Malaspina feudal families, the Region's best wines are produced.

The Oltrepò is Italy's number one area for the cultivation of Pinot Nero, used for the production of Spumantes. The climate of the area is known as 'sub-continental mesothermal' indicating that, although dry and well-ventilated, it does not suffer from drought.

In addition, there is much micro-climactic variation throughout the hills, permitting the production of many different varieties of wine - all of them high quality.

Soil type and exposure to the sun count for a lot but it is the dedication and experience of the grape grower which will make or break a wine...