Michel Thoulouze and his family decided to relaunch wine production on the island using the traditional methods of the local farmers and the expertise of Lydia and Claude Bourguignon (Doctors of the Earth) and Alain Graillot whose Crozes Ermitage wines have a worldwide reputation. The resulting wine, ORTO, has all the character of this special island and it is the only wine cultivated within the territorial boundaries of Venice.
The ancestral drainage system on the island has been renovated. Rainwater collects in canals that cross the vineyard and the water is evacuated by opening sluice gates at low tide. Before planting the first vines, the ground was prepared only with plants (barley, radish).
the vines were planted by direct seeding without any ploughing following the principles of Claude Bourguignon and of course, never any weedkiller. An assembly of antique Italian grape varieties with a dominance of the Istrien Malvoisie in order to revive the flavour of wines in the past, before the philoxera epidemic, the vines were not grafted onto roots imported from America but planted directly. This is one of the reasons for ORTO's exceptional quality.
Information about Orto di Venezia