The first traces of Bisol family in the heart of the Prosecco D.O.C area date to the 16th century and are contained in a census carried out for fiscal reasons by the aristocratic Venetian family Da Pola, who were landowners of the leading the very prestigious Cartizze hill.
The Bisol family initially oriented toward the production of grapes, added enological activities to viticulture when Eliseo, born in 1855, took charge. He was the first to vinify his own grapes and, once the capacity of the winery had been expanded, he began selling his wines on a limited scale (1875) outside the Valdobbiadene, an operation in which he used small barrels.
World War I interrupted that small but flourishing business. At that time, the border of the Austro-Hungarian Empire passed through the zone and in the fighting neither structures nor people were spared.
In that scenario, winemaking was neglected in favour of efforts to meet more pressing requirements. In addition, the vineyards suffered severe damage.
Eliseo Bisol died in 1923, leaving what remained to his son Desiderio who, in the thirties, began to plant new vineyards and reorganize the estate. He assigned a specific sector to each of his four sons. Antonio studied accounting and Eliseo, enology, while Aurelio tended to the vines and Claudio served as the house's general manager.
The Bisol winery is still a family run business and is managed by Antonio and Eliseo together with their sons: Gianluca and Desiderio, Claudio and Alberto.
Bisol Prosecco is considered one of the best, and what is important here is to understand what makes the difference.
First of all, Bisol has the all-important vineyard holdings that allow the company to choose how the grapes are grown and to select the best. In an industry where the average vineyard holding is tiny (around 1 hectare) and the larger producers are forced to buy in most of their grapes, the Bisol family are fortunate to own no fewer than 50 hectares of DOC vineyards, including three of the 106 hectares in the Cartizze zone, the highest vineyards in the region, where land is reputedly worth $1 million a hectare, were anyone willing to sell it.
Crucially, these vineyards also are in the prestigious DOC Conegliano-Valdobbiadene hillside vineyard corridor between the two eponymous towns that form the DOC limits. The DOC area is located in a very strategic position: just 1 hour by car from Venice, and at the same distance far from the Pearl of the Dolomites: Cortina D'Ampezzo.
Secondly, the Bisol estate chose the path of quality early on and have spent the last 30 years refining the process of producing Prosecco in the light of both technological and vineyard management progress. Bisol is one of the very few houses that integrate the entire production process, ensuring quality in every phase, from the selection of the terrain, to growing and hand picking the grapes in vineyards on steep slopes, to the bottling of the wine.
To enhance quality, Bisol produce grapes at around 90 quintals per hectare, a much lower ratio than official DOC regulations permit, and carry out a green harvesting of excess grape bunches every July. In particular vintages yield is further reduced to give fewer clusters even higher quality.
Each vineyard has been assessed for its potential and works its particular magic. Each hill, with different soils and expositions, yields grapes with different characteristics.