Costadilà "330 SLM" Bianco Frizzante 2022

Costadilà "330 SLM," named after the elevation of the parcel (the acronym "SLM" equates to "Above Sea Level" in Italian), is a white natural wine made from organically-farmed Glera, a grape varietal native to Veneto and typically used in Prosecco. With its straw cloudy yellow color, this "Vin Col Fondo" opens up with aromas of white flowers followed by light and frothy bubbles and flavors of green apple, peach and ripe pear, finishing with a delicate raw almond bitterness.

"330 SLM" is Made with the ancestral method, meaning it's refermented in the bottle (aka. Col Fondo or Pét-Nat). Spontaneously fermented with native yeasts and aged in stainless steel before refermenting in bottle with must of the same vintage. The wine is never disgorged. Unfined, unfiltered, no sulfur, no added sulfites.

Everything at Costadilà ("the hillside over there") started as a labor of love. The goal was and is to valorize and rejuvenate Tarzo's rich agricultural traditions by reintroducing farming to the region. The scope goes well beyond wine, with a strong emphasis on  polyculture: a farm where vines, fruits, vegetables, cereals and livestock coexist on the same plots of land. Completing the cycle, the produce grown from Costadilà land is then used and sold in local businesses. By creating this "model farm" for the region, founder Ernesto Cattel and his partners hoped to show a successful example to other farmers trapped in a monoculture economy. 

Everything at Costadilà is farmed organically. As far as the wines, they are fermented with native yeasts until completely dry, then bottled with must made from passito grapes they dry themselves for secondary fermentation. No sulfur is used at any point in the vinification. Each bottling is named in accordance to the site's elevation (330 = 330 meters, etc.).

The four traditional grapes of Prosecco are grown and used to make wine: Glera, Prosecco, Bianchetta Trevigiana and Verdizo. The three lesser known varieties used to be widespread in the area, but in an all too common scenario, farmers began to realize that Prosecco was more prolific and high-yielding and began tearing out their remaining vines to replant the more productive varietal.