Why it matters
The producer
Colli Vicentini sits in the Berici Hills south of Vicenza, a cooperative that thirty-three growers built from scratch in April 1955. Their first president was Tullio Pranovi. The cellar near Montecchio Maggiore draws grapes from approximately 1,200 hectares of member vineyards, worked by the cooperative's own agronomists and oenologists who follow growers from the vineyard forward. Its declared specialization is sparkling wine.
In 2015, Colli Vicentini merged with Cantina di Gambellara and Cantina Val Leogra to form Vitevis, a group that later incorporated Castelnuovo del Garda. By 2023, Vitevis reported 2,800 hectares, 1,350 member-growers across four Veneto wineries, and annual production of 13 million bottles. Colli Vicentini remains one of those four wineries, the group's address in the volcanic and clay hills east of the Adige plain.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
The Berici Hills rise south of Vicenza as a compact limestone and volcanic plateau cut by river erosion over tens of millions of years. The soils are a mixture of volcanic material and clay deposited by geological uplift roughly 60 million years ago, and the surface layer carries both morainic and volcanic mineral character. This is not the glaciated moraine of Lake Garda or the gravel of the Piave plain; the Berici Hills have their own geology and their own water regime.
The climate in this part of Vicenza province is mild and drier than areas further north. The hills shelter vineyards from cold air moving down from the Alps, and the southern orientation of many parcels extends the growing season. Less rainfall means less disease pressure and riper fruit at moderate alcohol levels. Cadia Chardonnay comes in at 12% ABV, which is consistent with a site that ripens slowly without overheating.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Colli Vicentini's member vineyards cover approximately 1,200 hectares in the Berici Hills. The cooperative employs its own agronomists and oenologists, who advise growers on treatments, timing, and harvesting decisions from the vineyard forward. This in-house technical team is the mechanism by which a cooperative producing millions of bottles maintains enough consistency to bottle under a single label.
The electronic treatment register, in place since 2013 for any member farming more than one hectare, creates a traceable record of what was applied to each parcel and when. Nineteen weather stations supply real-time data on temperature, humidity, and precipitation across the group's vineyard territories, allowing agronomists to time interventions more precisely and reduce the total volume of treatments applied across the season.
Wines to know
The range in view
Colli Vicentini identifies sparkling wine as its core specialization, a claim consistent with the Veneto region's deep tradition in Prosecco and Spumante production.
What is confirmed at product level is Cadia Chardonnay IGT Veneto. This is a still white wine, 100% Chardonnay, made from grapes grown across the Veneto. It is dry, pale in colour, and comes in at 12% ABV. The wine shows stone fruit and citrus on the nose, fresh acidity, a relatively light body, and a slightly resinous texture that distinguishes it from a straightforward neutral Chardonnay. It is positioned as an accessible, everyday white rather than an age-worthy wine: clean, direct, and built for drinking within a year or two of vintage.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Cadia Chardonnay 2024 is the bottle to start with, and it is also the most available outside Italy. It is 100% Chardonnay, destemmed, briefly skin-macerated, and fermented in stainless steel. No oak. Alcohol at 12%. The brief skin contact before pressing gives the wine a slightly resinous texture that marks it out from a standard neutral Chardonnay, while the Berici Hills site and dry microclimate keep the acidity fresh. Stone fruit on the nose, a clean mid-palate, a short citrus finish. At its price point it is an honest, well-made white from a cooperative that has been farming these hills since 1955. Drink it young.