Green hills rise up around me like a choppy sea as the tuneful twittering of blackbirds and European serins ebbs through the air. This place is only a 40-minute drive from Venice, with its day-tripper tax and madding crowds. Yet, save for a farmer trundling around in a compact tractor, there’s not a soul in sight.
Le Colline del Conegliano e Valdobbiadene – or the Prosecco Hills, as it’s also known – is a 22,000-acre swath of neatly pleated, steeply-slanted vineyards, woodland and Italian villages that’s protected by Unesco for its unique topography.
The absence of crowds is misleading; there’s plenty to see and do. Cyclists can bike along the Prosecco Wine Road that sashays through 50km of the region, while walkers can ramble up and down the acutely angled “hogback” hills.
Sarah Holt in the Prosecco Hills (Photo: Studio Cru )
My trip begins with a tasting. Sparkling wine has been produced in Prosecco since the 19th century, and today more than 1,100 wineries operate in the region. A tour of the Bellenda vineyard includes a sampling of six wines. I taste flavours like apple, pear, rosemary and hazelnut as the bubbles effervesce.
