Quite coincidentally, fattori is the Italian word for “farmers”, and Antonio Fattori, viticulturist and winemaker of Fattori winery comes from five generations of farmers. His grandfather planted his first vineyard in the early 1900s near the village of Terrossa, about 20 minutes east of Verona. The site would in 1927 become part of the original Soave Classico zone, which at present day comprises only the top 25% of all Soave produced. Antonio realized early on the potential of his family’s estate and made it his goal to produce wines that express its unique terroir. The mineral rich, volcanic and basalt soils in this region produce fresh, mineral driven, aromatic wines. He became the first in his family to go to enology school—in Conegliano, Italy’s first wine school. He went to Dijon in Burgundy, and then to New Zealand, in an effort to understand different winemaking traditions.