Valdobbiadene Geography & Climate

The town sits in the upper Piave valley, at the western end of the ridge that runs east to Conegliano, with the Prealps rising sharply to the north and the river below to the south.

The vineyard land is a band of steep morainic hills, deposited by ancient glaciers and cut into by streams, so the slopes run in short parallel ridges rather than one continuous face. That fragmentation is why the appellation has 43 named rive -- each is a distinct slope with its own aspect and soil.

Cartizze occupies the best of them: a compact hill of about 107 hectares between San Pietro di Barbozza, Santo Stefano and Saccol, where a particular combination of steepness, southern exposure and moraine-and-clay soil produces the appellation's most concentrated fruit.

North of town the ground climbs quickly toward Monte Cesen and the Prealps proper, a different landscape of pasture and woodland that has nothing to do with wine.

Summers (June-August) are warm, generally in the high twenties, with afternoon thunderstorms coming off the mountains. The slopes are noticeably cooler and airier than the Piave valley floor.

Winters (December-February) are cold, with frost common on the valley floor and snow on Monte Cesen above. The hillsides themselves rarely hold snow for long.

Rainfall is high and well spread, and the steep drainage of the slopes is as important as the rain itself -- these soils shed water fast, which is precisely what the vine wants.

Hail is the real hazard. A single storm in August can strip a slope, and the anti-hail netting over some vineyards is a serious investment rather than an ornament.