Andreola Valdobbiadene Recent Releases – 1WineDude.com
Andreola‘s Stefano Pola wants you to know that Prosecco’s main ingredient—Glera—is not a grape that should be dismissed as somehow ignoble.
“Considering that from a single grape variety we can create a Brut and Extra Brut, and considering its versatility with food, this is not a smaller grape variety,” he told me during an online tasting of three of his family’s recent sparkling offerings.
Pola is the son of professional cyclist and former bartender Nazzareno Pola, who in 1984 founded Andreola in Italy’s Col San Martino. Nazzareno used his race winnings to buy up vineyard parcels in his hometown, in premium Prosecco territory Valdobbiadene. “I grew up in Andreola, basically,” explained Stefano. Situated between Venice and the Dolomites, farming in the region happens only on the hills, on 110 hectares of vines split across 250 small plots.
Some of the slopes reach a dizzying 70% incline grade. They call it “heroic” viticulture, but it’s more like “insane” viticulture when it comes to harvesting time, and that’s just the way it is—there’s no actual viable alternative. “It’s not possible at all for us to use machines,” insisted Stefano (about 800 hours of labor/year per hectare is required for harvesting grapes in Valdobbiadene). I have been there, as well as to neighboring Asolo, and can tell you that even for a reasonably fit guy like me, walking the hillsides there is no joke, never mind harvesting on them (or riding a bike up one of them, which, if Nazzareno managed that on the regular… serious respect).
Each Rive (more or less meaning “a steeped slope vineyard from a single town”) is vinified separately, and Andreola produce seven different Rive-based releases.
2025 Andreola ‘Dirupo’ Brut, Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore, $20
A blend if 90% Glera, 5% Bianchetta, and 5% Perera, clocking in at 11.5% abv and 10 g/l sugar, this hails from an interesting vineyard mix of soils including calcareous marl, sandstone and conglomerate rocks, sitting about 200-500 meters a.s.l., and is the first label that Andreola produced (the name, appropriately, is a dialectic for “steep”). Softer yellow pear and yellow apple notes start it off, then minerals and white flowers, greener apples, and a hint of herbs and acacia follow. The palate hits with citrus, joyful apple flavors, fresh fruit salad, and even a hint of brioche, with great juxtaposition of creaminess and citric verve. Very, very inviting and easy to drink, with waves of flavorful fun that feel effortless. Bring on the salads (and save bit for Mimosas the next morning).
2025 Andreola ‘Mas de Fer’ Rive di Soligo, Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore, $25
Sourced from the far eastern part of the appellation, from five hectares in Col de Fer
and San Gallo including one of their highest south-exposed vineyards (the hill, sitting at 500 meters a.s.l, is actually utilized by parachute jumpers, according to Stefano). There’s 14 g/l sugar here (sugar is the main lever that they have to balance acidity and fruit ripeness, also according to Stefano), but you hardly notice it. Explosive, fruity nose (“like a fruit salad” Stefano exclaimed), with lime, white flowers, spice notes, and Granny Smith apple and even a slight balsamic hint. Super perky green pear and yellow and green apples, yellow apple skin, and mandarin hints follow it all up. This is lovely, with both a sense of fun and a sense of elegance in the texture. The finish is long, fruity, and floral, but subtle and refined (especially by Prosecco standards). It’s also delicious AF.
2025 Andreola ’26° 1° Primo’ Rive di Col San Martino, Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore, $27
100% Glera, from steep Col San Martino slopes at an elevation of 300 to 500 metes, on a modified double-arched cane vine training systems. The slopes get pretty much maximum sun exposure for the area (though you’re still only seeing about 11.5% abv in this Extra Brut, with 0 g/l of sugar). This site is where they began in the `80s, constituting the company’s founding 4ha vineyard (still one of the highest and steepest plantings in the area), sitting on conglomerate soils of glacial rocks and ancient sea sand, with marl lower down the slope. Andreola created this label to celebrate the transition of leadership from Nazzareno to Stefano. Peach, white blossoms, crisp green apples, a hint of minerals and herbs… the nose is vibrant and lifted. The palate is sooooo expressive, with a ton of minerality, yellow and green apple and green pear flavors, and beautiful floral notes weaving in and out. Bountiful, beautiful, bouncy, and bold, and extremely well balanced (round but not flabby, perky but not abrasive). Prosecco for Champers lovers.
Cheers!
