Prosecco property: Stunning vineyard for sale in Italy's north east

This spectacular and sprawling estate covers 108 hectares within the province of Pordenone, in the medieval municipality of San Vito al Tagliamento, located Italy’s north east corner around an hour from the Slovenia border. It is listed for €11.5million (£10.3m, $13,6m USD.)

The land is cultivated with 19.4ha of vineyards for the production of DOC Prosecco plus a further 29.9ha currently rented out and used as a training ground for rooted vines. A total of 53.4ha is arable land used for corn, sorghum and alfalfa with a 3,000sqm landscaped garden and 14x8m outdoor swimming pool.

Availability

‘There are some wine estates generally available in the Prosecco region, but not many,’ said Marta Brunellini Romolini, Estate agent with Agenzia Romolini Immobiliare S.r.l. and Christie’s International Real Estate with whom the property is listed. Some are ‘officially’ for sale while others experiencing financial difficulties try to sell more privately she said.

In terms of price, Romolini said the most prestigious vineyards, in the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG can fetch up to 400,000 euros per hectare, with peaks ‘even in the region of one million euros on the Cartizze hill where, however, there is nothing officially available at the moment.’

In the DOC Prosecco region, between Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia, the value of vineyards is lower, lying in the region of 200,000 euros per hectare.

The beautiful landscaped gardens

The Market

Romolini said that ‘wine estates have been the most requested pieces of real estate in the past three years at least’ and listed three typical searches:

A hobby vineyard (usually combined with a farmhouse or a manor villa either for permanent residency or as a vacation home)
A small business usually in the region of 5 million euros
A castle, manor or luxury villa with an annexed vineyard, cellar and wine production facility. The presence of an architecturally interesting building gives the ‘wow factor’ and is also a potential label image for the bottles

Typical buyers comprise private investors, newly retired businesspeople or larger international groups with US citizens, Northern and Eastern Europeans, Argentinians and Chinese cited as the most interested.

This estate

The multi-purpose complex comprises over a dozen buildings with an interior space covering 8,577sqm. It including ten habitable houses – the 18th century manor taking pride of place, alongside a warden’s apartment, a 15th consecrated century chapel, three stables, a warehouse, a two-storey barn, an old mill, storage rooms and space for further construction.

The main villa underwent restoration in 2003 and features an ample event hall, professional kitchen and Italian art works on the walls.

The chapel provides seating for 40 people and is dedicated to the saints Pietro and Paolo with a fresco from 1511.

The chapel dedicated to the saints Pietro and Paolo and dating back to the 15th century

The largest house – the Gastaldia, has 13 bedrooms and 15 bathrooms and is set on three levels.

Separated from the main complex is an additional hamlet comprised of four buildings, an eight-room warehouse, house with two apartments, a farmhouse and 5-bedroom residence.

Restored features in the grand living areas

There is also an old, 115sqm watermill dating back to the early 16th century and expanded in the 18th century which still hosts the original machinery and historic stone archways.

In total, there are 30 bedrooms and 29 bathrooms across the dwellings and the estate currently runs as a successful accommodation business and event space for weddings, meetings and summits as well as its wine operations.

The vast 108ha estate

Each year harvested Glera grapes produce approximately 360,000 bottles of what is described as ‘excellent Prosecco’.

The estate has potential to be further renovated increasing the number of bedrooms as well as expanding wine tourism efforts allowing people to learn how the vineyards are cared for and the production methods of Prosecco.

The property is ideally located close to a small town providing the necessary services as well as in easy reach to several cities and landmarks in northern Italy from the golden beaches of Lignano Sabbiadoro 29km away to the unique city of Venice 88km away. The closest airport are Trieste Ronchi dei Legionari and Venezia Marco Polo, 52 and 77km away respectively.

Pordenone is one of the four provinces that make up the Prosecco DOC alongside Gorizia, Trieste and Udine and is enclosed by the Carnic Prealps mountain range and a wide plain bordered by several rives including the Livenza and the Tagliamento which flows from the Alps to the Adriatic Sea.