Lovo Vineyard

LOVO
An enologist himself, winemaker Salvatore Lovo long worked as a
consultant in other areas of Italy, including Tuscany, the Marche, and
Abruzzo. Today, alongside his daughter, Silvia, Salvatore focuses on
historic varietals that help to define his own region in the hills near
Padua. One of these is Fior d’Arancio, verily the estate’s crown jewel.
A rare clone of Moscato Giallo, Fior d’Arancio (trans. “orange
blossom”), grows in a tiny zone of just a few square miles, and is
famous for its stunning, citrus-driven aromatics. It’s estimated that
no more than a dozen estates here work with Colli Euganei Fior
d’Arancio, and Salvatore’s own family helped elevate its status to
DOCG. Written records going back to the 1300s have traced Fior
d’Arancio to the eastern Mediterranean, and old-timers still refer to it
as Moscato Sirio (Syrian Moscato).
In addition to the 17 hectares of high-altitude vines that Salvatore
Lovo owns, the winemaker also has long-term contracts with a
number of local, organic-minded families who all farm tiny parcels of
1-3 hectares. In this way, he is able to produce both single estate
wines and also pursue a series of other projects – including La Perlina
Moscato – and partner with the likes of Andrea and Alberto Bocelli.
Rising up from the flat, expansive Po River Valley where so much of
the Veneto’s white wine is produced, the ancient Colli Euganei, or
Euganean Hills, stand alone in a multitude of ways. Most notably, this
green archipelago of hills has long been known for producing wines
with pronounced acidic poise and aromatics. The mounts themselves
emerged some 2 million years ago, as seawater receded around the
site of great, underwater volcanoes. The resultant combination of
volcanic and calcareous soils today invests the region’s wines – even
the reds – with a minerality, freshness and persistency that can’t be
repeated in the surrounding lowlands.