Azienda Agricola Malibràn

The story

The Clay Decision

Gregorio Favrel was farming Glera in Col San Martino, one of the hill communes that gave Prosecco its original reputation, when he decided to leave. In the early 1950s he moved the estate to the gentler slopes of Susegana, drawn by the clay soil there, which he believed would give fuller, more aromatically complex wines than the ground he had been working. Col San Martino was the known address; Susegana was a quieter zone. The move was a wager on what the earth could do rather than on what the postcode already meant. Three generations later, Maurizio Favrel farms the same clay ground, and the estate's Credamora col fondo is named for creda, the local dialect word for clay, pressed into the label of every bottle.

From the atlas

Azienda Agricola Malibràn

At A Glance

The Producer

Malibràn is a three-generation family estate farming 14 hectares of clay-dominant vineyard in Susegana, on the Treviso hills of Veneto, within the Prosecco Superiore DOCG zone. The current proprietor is Maurizio Favrel. The estate is a member of FIVI, the Federazione Italiana Vignaioli Indipendenti, and earned Biodiversity Friend certification in 2020.

Two facts separate Malibràn from most estates in the region. First, the estate has produced its Sottoriva col fondo continuously for over 50 years, in a zone where Charmat pressure-tank production long ago became the commercial norm. Second, its founding logic was explicitly agricultural: the family moved to Susegana because the clay there gave more complex wine. Those two commitments, soil choice and method loyalty, still show in every bottle.

Maurizio controls the full chain from vine to sale. Vineyard parcels are worked primarily by hand and maintained with the kind of attention the estate describes as keeping them like gardens. No step is contracted out.

Place

Susegana sits in the Treviso hills, east of the Piave river, at the northern edge of the Prosecco Superiore DOCG. The DOCG covers a defined band of hills between Conegliano and Valdobbiadene, and wines within it carry the Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG label. Malibràn's parcels fall on the gentler slopes of Susegana rather than the steeper hillsides around Valdobbiadene, where soils tend to carry more limestone alongside clay.

The clay concentration in Susegana changes the grape. Clay retains moisture through drier summer periods, slows drainage, and encourages fuller-bodied, more aromatically rounded Glera compared to the lighter, more nervy styles from higher and stonier ground. That fuller character is audible in Malibràn's col fondo wines and in the Extra Brut dosage choice for the flagship: less sugar to balance, because the fruit arrives richer.

The Rive category within the DOCG allows producers to label wines by the specific hillside commune where grapes were grown. Malibràn's Rive wine is tied to Santa Maria di Feletto, a recognised hillside zone within the DOCG. The label names a place, not just an appellation.

Soil And Site

The 14 hectares are planted on predominantly clay soils. Clay gives Glera density and aromatic persistence. It also holds warmth into autumn, extending the ripening window without forcing high sugar levels, which suits the Extra Brut and col fondo styles Malibràn favours.

Vines average 20 to 30 years of age across the estate's parcels. Parcels include holdings in Susegana, Santa Maria di Feletto, and Collalto, with the Collalto area supporting the Boschera vines used for the Centogufi still red. The hand cultivation across parcels means selective harvest decisions are possible at a level that machine harvesting does not allow.

The estate received Biodiversity Friend certification in 2020, a recognition tied to measurable habitat and soil-health standards in the vineyard. The vines are farmed to support surrounding biodiversity rather than optimising yields in isolation.

Story

Gregorio Favrel founded the winery originally in Col San Martino, one of the traditional hill communes of the Prosecco zone. In the early 1950s he moved the estate to Susegana. The decision was agronomic: the clayey soils on Susegana's slopes produced fuller-bodied, more aromatically layered wines than the ground he had been farming. Col San Martino was established. Susegana was a bet on soil over reputation.

That move placed the family in Susegana for three generations. Maurizio Favrel now leads the estate and in September 2004 oversaw the construction of a new facility, a modernisation that did not displace the ancestral winemaking methods the family had maintained through the Charmat era. The Sottoriva col fondo predates that facility by decades.

The naming of the Gorio Extra Dry after founder Gregorio, whom the family describes as a philosopher of the earth, records the agricultural philosophy behind the original move. The Credamora col fondo goes further: its name comes from creda, the local dialect word for clay.

Vineyards And Cellar

All parcels are hand-worked. Hand cultivation allows row-by-row assessment at harvest, selective picking by ripeness, and tighter control over fruit selection than a mechanical pass permits. On 14 hectares across multiple hillside locations, this is a considered commitment of labour rather than a practical necessity.

In the cellar, Malibràn uses two production methods. The Rive Extra Brut and the Gorio Extra Dry are made using the Charmat method, where secondary fermentation happens under pressure in sealed tanks. This gives clean, consistent bubble and preserves fresh Glera aromatics: white pear, apple blossom, and light citrus.

The col fondo wines take a different path. Secondary fermentation happens in the bottle itself, on the residual yeast, with no disgorgement afterward. The wine stays on its sediment. This is the ancestral method: older than Charmat, more variable, and producing a different character. The bubbles are finer and less aggressive. The yeast contact adds a bread note, sometimes a faint savouriness, alongside the fruit. The wine is cloudy by nature.

Biodiversity Friend certification ties the farming practice to the production philosophy: low intervention in the field, minimal addition in the cellar.

Wines

The range runs across five sparkling wines and one still red, with Glera doing the principal work and Boschera making a single appearance.

Rive di Santa Maria di Feletto Extra Brut is the flagship. It is a single-commune Glera sparkling wine under the Rive sub-category of the Conegliano Valdobbiadene DOCG, produced by Charmat method and labelled Extra Brut, meaning very little residual sugar. The wine emphasises the clay-slope character of the Santa Maria di Feletto parcels: firmer body than typical Valdobbiadene Prosecco, with white apple and pear fruit, good acidity, and a dry, clean finish. The low dosage means the fruit rather than sweetness carries the palate.

Credamora Col Fondo is an ancestral-method Prosecco, pale straw in colour with delicate, gently rising bubbles. Citrus and apple aromatics sit alongside a sourdough bread note from the residual yeast. The texture is softer than Charmat-method Prosecco: no sharp bubble, more roundness in the mouth, with a slight creamy quality from the sediment contact.

Sottoriva Col Fondo is the estate's second ancestral-method bottling, produced continuously for over 50 years. The same bottle-fermentation approach applies: no disgorgement, no filtration, wine on its lees. Where Credamora leads with fruit clarity, Sottoriva carries more depth from a longer family production history in the method.

Gorio Extra Dry is a Charmat-method Prosecco named for founder Gregorio, with a slightly higher residual sugar level than Extra Brut. Sweeter on the palate, approachable, with soft pear and floral character typical of Extra Dry Prosecco.

Brut Rosé is a rosé sparkling wine.

Centogufi is a still red wine from Boschera, an indigenous variety of the Treviso hills grown in the Collalto area. Production is around 1,800 bottles per year. The wine sits entirely outside the Prosecco category and represents the estate's engagement with local variety preservation.

In The Glass

The Charmat wines, the Rive Extra Brut and the Gorio Extra Dry, open with the clean, freshly aromatic character that Glera on clay produces: white pear, light apple, a faint floral lift. The Extra Brut version has firm acidity and a dry finish, with no sweetness softening the mid-palate. The bubble is consistent and fine from tank fermentation. Body is fuller than many Proseccos from stonier hill sites, the clay making itself felt as weight and aromatic roundness rather than sharpness.

The col fondo wines change the register. Credamora rises from the glass with citrus and apple but adds sourdough, a savoury bread note from the yeast sediment still present in the bottle. The bubble is delicate and slower, more bead-like than the assertive fizz of a Charmat wine. On the palate, the texture is rounder, softer in carbonation, with the lees contact adding a gentle creaminess to the fruit. The finish is drier than the nose suggests. Sottoriva shares this architecture and carries the depth of a production method the family has never interrupted.

Across the range, the clay signature is the consistent thread: fuller body, aromatic persistence, and a palate weight that anchors both the sparkling and the still wine.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Credamora Col Fondo. It is the bottle that shows what Malibràn does differently from nearly every producer in the Prosecco zone. The method is ancestral: secondary fermentation in the bottle, no disgorgement, wine left on its yeast sediment. The name embeds the soil story (creda, clay in local dialect). The glass gives pale straw colour, fine rising bubbles, citrus and apple aromas, and a sourdough note that confirms the yeast contact. The texture is softer and rounder than Charmat Prosecco. The finish is dry. It is not a challenging wine to drink, but it is a challenging wine to confuse with anything else made in the region today.

Anecdote

Gregorio Favrel was farming Glera in Col San Martino, one of the hill communes that gave Prosecco its original reputation, when he decided to leave. In the early 1950s he moved the estate to the gentler slopes of Susegana, drawn by the clay soil there, which he believed would give fuller, more aromatically complex wines than the ground he had been working. Col San Martino was the known address; Susegana was a quieter zone. The move was a wager on what the earth could do rather than on what the postcode already meant. Three generations later, Maurizio Favrel farms the same clay ground, and the estate's Credamora col fondo is named for creda, the local dialect word for clay, pressed into the label of every bottle.

Final Word

Malibràn occupies a specific position in the Prosecco zone: a clay-farming, hand-working, col fondo-committed estate that has held its methods through several decades of commercial consolidation around Charmat. The Rive Extra Brut maps a named hillside to a glass. The col fondo bottles show what Prosecco looked like before pressure tanks became the default answer. Credamora is where to start.

Sources

• https://www.malibranvini.it/?lang=en
• https://www.prosecco.it/en/scheda-cantina/malibran/
• https://www.myfullwineglass.com/take-aways-from-a-week-of-glorious-prosecco-docg-italianfwt/
• https://mucci.wine/vineyards-vino/malibran/
• https://passionevino.co.uk/winemakers/malibran/
• https://www.primaveradelprosecco.it/en/taste_it/malibran/