When it was formed in 1966, Cantina Valtidone coined the motto "present-day classics" for its wines. Cantine Valtidone is a winegrowers' cooperative with 330 members who deliver to the Cantina over 9,000 tons of grapes (over 80% DOC), amounting to approximately one quarter of Piacenza's total grape harvest. The cooperative's successful growth is due to its continuous search for quality and the soundness and reliability of its commercial practice.
All grapes are grown exclusively in vineyards located on the hillsides of the Val Tidone valley.
This produces a lower yield higher quality harvest.
The agronomists of Cantina Valtidone work alongside winegrowers and assist them in producing high quality grapes.
Technological improvement does not stop in the vineyards, but it also extends to vinificatione and ageing,
The wine valley
The Valtidone valley has the suitable characteristics for the production of superior wines.
Hilly country, average elevation 180 m, south and southeast exposure.
There is evidence of grape domestication between 2000 and 700 B.C. supported by the finding of traces of grape-seeds and fossilized vine roots.
In 200 B.C., Saserna, an Etruscan farmer, produced and served at his table "Kilkevetra", the wine from the woods of the local Apennine.
In Roman times, the vineyards of the area enjoyed great renown. Cicero gave a famous speech accusing Julius Cesar's father-in-low Calpurnio Pisone in front of the Roman Senate of drinking too many goblets of the famous wine from Placentia. In 1878, the famous silver jug called Gutturnio, a peculiar wine vessel with a handle, was found in the muddy sands of the river Po at Croce Santo Spirito.
The Tabula Alimentaria Traianea, the most ancient and important bronze epigraph of the Roman era, tells us how vines were grows and what "divine" juice could be obtained from their grapes.
The renown of the Valtidone valley has continued through the centuries: its wines graced the table of princes and condottieri, from Alberto Scoto to the Viscontis to Bartolomeo Colleoni.
Pope Paul III Farnese demanded that they be fetched expressly for his table. Around the end of the 13th century they were even exported to France.