2026-07-02
Follador Prosecco dal 1769, a winery based in Col San Martino in the Valdobbiadene area of northeastern Italy, said Thursday that it is reinforcing its position in the Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG category by linking its long family history with a production method centered on vineyard work and technical precision.
The company traces its origins to 1769, when Giovanni Follador’s wines received recognition from Alvise IV Mocenigo, then Doge of Venice. Since that time, according to the winery, nine generations of the Follador family have managed the estate. Today the business operates in the hills of Conegliano Valdobbiadene, a landscape recognized by UNESCO for its cultural value and known for steep vineyard slopes that require extensive manual labor.
The announcement comes as producers across premium sparkling wine regions place greater emphasis on origin, production methods and family identity in export markets. In the case of Follador, the winery said it sees its history not as a marketing detail but as part of its production model in an appellation where fragmented plots, hillside viticulture and close vineyard oversight shape quality.
Cristina Follador said the date 1769 represents an ongoing obligation rather than a symbolic milestone. She said respecting the hills means understanding them closely, farming them carefully and translating that knowledge into wines that remain faithful to their place of origin.
Alongside its vineyard work, the winery has developed what it calls the Metodo Gianfranco Follador®, a protocol that combines reductive winemaking techniques, cryomaceration and longer secondary fermentation periods. The stated goal is to protect grape integrity, sharpen aromatic definition and maintain consistency from one release to another.
Cristina Follador said technology should support the fruit rather than override it. She described innovation as a way to gain more precise tools for expressing the wine’s character without altering its identity.
The winery said this approach defines its range of Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG wines, which it describes as balanced and aromatically clear. The company is presenting that style as a modern reading of Prosecco Superiore rooted in family experience, technical research and the specific identity of the hills where the grapes are grown.
That message is aimed in part at international buyers and consumers, as competition within sparkling wine continues to push producers to explain not only where their wines come from but how they are made. In many export markets, wineries are increasingly expected to show consistency in quality and clarity in communication alongside heritage claims.
Cristina Follador said consumers are looking for authentic stories but also for credibility and continuity. She said the family’s history is not an added feature but the basis for how the winery works and presents itself.
Follador’s statement did not include production volumes, export figures or details on specific market growth. It focused instead on how the estate wants to position itself within the upper tier of the Prosecco category at a time when producers in Conegliano Valdobbiadene are seeking to distinguish DOCG wines from broader Prosecco offerings through site identity, stricter standards and more detailed winemaking narratives.
In Valdobbiadene, where vineyard conditions can make mechanization difficult, producers often point to manual harvesting and plot-by-plot management as central parts of quality production. Follador’s latest message places those factors at the center of its identity while tying them to a proprietary method intended to preserve freshness and aromatic precision in sparkling wines made from local fruit.
More than 250 years after its founding, the winery is using that historical lineage to support a current commercial strategy built around continuity, technical know-how and a clear connection to Conegliano Valdobbiadene.