Donati

In the hills of Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Camillo Donati stands as a true pioneer of natural sparkling wine. Taking over as the third generation of his family's estate in the early 1990s, Camillo revived traditional ancestral-method winemaking, rejecting industrial shortcuts to craft authentic, living frizzante wines. Across 15 hectares of organically and biodynamically farmed clay slopes, Donati focuses on indigenous regional varieties, including Malvasia di Candia, Lambrusco, Barbera, and Trebbiano. Every variety is vinified individually, with white grapes undergoing skin maceration alongside the reds. His cellar philosophy remains uncompromising: no commercial yeasts, no temperature manipulation, and no mechanical filtration. Secondary fermentation occurs naturally in the bottle powered solely by indigenous grape sugars. The resulting wines are beautifully aromatic and textured whilst retaining a charming, rustic edge. Absolute bargains that offer a pure reflection of Emilia’s rich culinary heritage and capture an honest sense of time and place. We visited in September 2026 and Camillo treated us to an amazing magnum of 2008 Lambrusco which showed us just how wonderfully these wines can age.