Francesco Drusian
On the impossibly steep, green hills of Valdobbiadene — a landscape so extraordinary UNESCO named it a World Heritage Site — the Drusian family has been growing Glera since the 1890s. Three generations of calloused hands and stubborn devotion later, Francesco Drusian took the reins in 1988 and set out to prove that Prosecco could be something more: precise, elegant, and unmistakably of its place.
This is heroic viticulture in the truest sense. Across 80 hectares of hillside vineyards, every task is done by hand — up to 800 hours of work per hectare each year, nearly ten times what flat land demands. The reward is fruit of rare purity, farmed sustainably without pesticides or insecticides and certified under Italy’s national integrated-production quality system (SQNPI).
In the cellar, patience is the house style. While the rules require thirty days for the second fermentation, Drusian often extends it to as many as 120 — coaxing out the fine, persistent perlage that is the estate’s signature. Gentle pressing, oxygen-free bottling, and a minimalist hand with sulfur let the delicate fragrance of Glera sing: white flowers, crisp orchard fruit, and a bright, mineral freshness that dances rather than shouts.
From the crowd-pleasing Brut and Extra Dry to the vintage Millesimato, the rare Cartizze, and the prestigious “Mete Eccelse” line — including a sui lieviti bottling and single-hillside Rive selections — every bottle (poured, ideally, from Drusian’s distinctive tulip-inspired bottle) carries the same promise: a century of tradition, served sparkling and utterly contemporary.
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