Isabella Collalto de Croÿ is the eldest daughter of Prince Manfredo di Collalto and of Princess Maria de la Trinidad di Collalto, Castillo y Moreno. After obtaining her university degree at the University of Trieste, Isabella Collalto worked for over 20 years for European Union agencies based in Brussels, specialising in international relations.
She married Belgian Prince Guillaume de Croÿ, and has a son, Emmanuel, and a daughter, Violette. Her father passed away prematurely in 2004, and Isabella Collalto followed his wishes by assuming the management of the family’s historic agricultural estate and of the winery in Susegana. Her style is one of direct, personal involvement, showing a deep commitment and thoroughgoing passion for her work, prizing her father’s example while enriching it with her long experience in the global marketplace.
Her goal is to forge ahead on the well-blazed path set out by her family, but steadily raising the quality levels of the Collalto wines, always widely-respected by international wine consumers for their reliability and fine qualities, through meticulous research into advances in winemaking science and through unrelenting attention paid to her vines and cellar.
Isabella Collalto’s professional winemaking approach is clearly centred on developing to the fullest extent the potential so richly shown by the eastern Veneto’s rare, yet noble grape varieties, as represented by the Incrocio Manzoni varieties, Verdiso, and the extremely rare Wildbacher grape, but without ever slighting the winery’s iconic variety, Glera (Prosecco).
“I want the Collalto wines and sparkling wines to exhibit those qualities of drinkability and elegance that should always characterise the wines produced in our zone of the Conegliano area, wines that should be prized for their varietal faithfulness, their approachability, and the naturalness that marks their production.
“It is my belief that the strength of the Collalto name derives from its 150 hectares of estate vineyards planted in the “classic zone” of Conegliano, whose Prosecco has now been granted DOCG status, a denomination of higher quality that sets our Prosecco apart from those of surrounding areas. We use grapes exclusively from our own vineyards, a practice not at all common in the Prosecco area. Our customers have access to complete traceability, from vineyard to bottle.”
Isabella Collalto is a member of the Associazione Donne del Vino Italia (Women in Wine in Italy) and European Ambassador of the European Oenogastronomic Brotherhoods Council (Ceuco).
