About a thousand years ago, in 1080, a Benedictine monastic community settled in the present town of Praglia, south of Padua, among the Euganei hills. The community is still the largest in Italy. To become self-sustainable and remain faithful to their rule “pray and work”, they have engaged in
various activities that they still practice today, the oldest of which is agriculture, especially viticulture and vinification.
High walls delimit twenty hectares of land, where the abbey stands, a centuries-old structure containing modern technology for a cutting-edge yet simple and artisanal winemaking.
The almost eleven hectares of vineyards, some in the plain and some in the high hills, over 500 meters above the sea level, are the great soil for various types of whine: white and red, sweet sparkling or traditional method, raisin wine or fizzy. It is an artisan micro winemaking that pays great attention to environmental sustainability and its costumers.
Several documents testify the importance of the Benedictine monks for the spread of vine and olive cultivation in the Euganei hills and the surrounding area.
It was a Benedictine monk, Don Pierre Perignon, who perfectioned the technique of wine refermentation in the bottle to obtain the classic sparkling wine method as we know it today. The Benedictine monks of Praglia, in memory of his predecessor, continued in this art to produce, among the others, Emeritus, a traditional method wine. This bottle-fermented sparkling wine is made from red Raboso Piave wine grapes and aged on lees for at least 40 months.
Tradition, passion, perseverance and generosity this is what a glass of wine made by the monks of Praglia tastes of. A thousand-year-old history, great passion in viticulture, perseverance in cultivating vines in harsh soils, generosity in respecting both the environment and the consumer, offering decent work opportunities to workers in need.
By tasting a glass of wine we can recall the past, talk about the present and imagine the future, which may or may not please us, but is certainly not banal.
www.praglia.it