From the atlas
Condé Azienda Vitivinicola
At A Glance
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| Estate | Condé Azienda Vitivinicola |
| Owner | Francesco Condello |
| Location | Fiumana di Predappio, Forlì-Cesena, Emilia-Romagna |
| Grape | Sangiovese Piccolo |
| Wines | Al Caleri, Raggio Brusa |
| Farming | No chemical herbicides or pesticides; sulfur and copper only |
| Release policy | Held in cellar until tannin elegance is achieved |
The Producer
Francesco Condello grew up in the countryside around Predappio, left, and eventually came back with one declared purpose: to make wine from Sangiovese Piccolo, the indigenous Sangiovese biotype of this corner of Emilia-Romagna. The estate is in Fiumana di Predappio, a village in the province of Forlì-Cesena, and everything Condé produces comes from one grape grown on these hillside parcels.
The commitment that shapes the estate most visibly is the release policy. Condé holds its wines in the cellar until bottle equilibrium is reached and the tannins have arrived at what Condello calls elegance. The wines go to market only when he considers them ready. That decision governs both bottles in the range and sets the pace of the entire operation.
Place
Predappio sits between the Apennines and the Adriatic Sea, at the boundary of the Casentinesi Forests and the Po Valley plain. The Rabbi valley runs through this landscape, bringing a biodiversity of flowers, insects, wildlife, and woodland that Condello treats as part of the farming context. The hills here are not dramatic in the way of Montalcino or Barolo, but they carry their own physical logic: elevation enough to cool the nights, slopes that drain well, and morning sun that falls hard on the east-facing plots.
Predappio's relationship with wine is old enough to have been written down. Viticultural regulations appear in the town's statutes of 1383, with further additions in 1400. Condello places his work inside that lineage without claiming invented heritage.
Soil And Site
Condé farms without chemical herbicides or pesticides. Sulfur and copper are used in low quantities in the vineyard; nothing synthetic beyond that. Soil care comes from organic manure and cover crops, chosen and adjusted for the specific needs of individual parcels rather than applied uniformly across the estate. The reasoning is practical: tailored cover crops push the vine roots deeper into the soil, where they draw nutrients and microelements particular to each plot. Two parcels on different slopes are farmed as two different problems.
Story
Francesco Condello frames the estate's origin as a return. He grew up in these fields, went elsewhere, and came back with, as he puts it, greater awareness and a single large objective: to devote his life to Sangiovese di Predappio. The family positions itself as the custodian of local wine traditions that stretch back centuries.
The decision that matters most practically is not the return itself but what he chose to grow. He plants Sangiovese Piccolo, the indigenous Sangiovese biotype of Predappio, a grape with smaller, looser bunches and thick skins suited to these hillsides. That choice narrowed the range to two wines and deepened the commitment to a very specific place.
Vineyards And Cellar
Sangiovese Piccolo carries smaller, more loosely spaced bunches than broader Sangiovese selections. The skins are thick, which delivers deeper colour and more concentrated fruit character into the wine. Manual harvesting and hand sorting are standard across the estate.
For Al Caleri, the fruit goes into stainless steel and ferments with indigenous yeasts, with a partial carbonic maceration element that preserves freshness and lifts the fruit. The approach is designed to retain what the fresher parcels naturally offer. For Raggio Brusa, the east-facing vineyard's thicker-skinned fruit goes through a longer ageing programme.
Across both wines, the cellar's governing principle is patience. Long ageing in bottle allows the wine to reach equilibrium before release. The tannins are not softened artificially; they are given time.
Wines
Condé makes two wines, both from Sangiovese Piccolo, both carrying the long-ageing philosophy, each drawing from a different vineyard expression.
Al Caleri comes from the estate's cooler, fresher parcels. It is 100% Sangiovese, manually harvested, fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and a partial carbonic maceration. The partial carbonic step keeps the fruit vivid and the palate accessible: ripe red cherries, a soft earthy undertow, fine acidity, and tannins that have been given enough time in bottle to settle without losing their grip. The finish dries gradually, with some pleasant bitterness in the tail. It is the lighter-shouldered bottle, but not a thin one.
Raggio Brusa takes its name from the east-facing vineyard parcel whose morning sun exposure is severe enough that the valley gave it a name: the ray that burns. The grape comes in darker and tighter-skinned from this slope, and the wine built from it has more weight, firmer tannins, and a longer defined finish. It is suited for cellaring and is the estate's longer-ageing tier. Where Al Caleri is approachable on release, Raggio Brusa rewards patience in the cellar as well.
In The Glass
Sangiovese Piccolo from Predappio does not taste like Chianti Classico or Brunello. The Piccolo biotype's thick skins and smaller bunches push colour and concentration, but the hillside elevation and the Rabbi valley climate preserve freshness. The wines are full-bodied without heaviness, and the tannins are the reference point Condello uses to judge readiness.
In Al Caleri, the nose opens on ripe red fruit with an earthy, slightly rustic edge that is typical of Predappio Sangiovese. The palate is full without being extracted, the acidity fine rather than aggressive, and the finish dries slowly with a bitter note that keeps the wine from feeling flat. Raggio Brusa shifts the weight upward: the fruit is more concentrated from the east-facing exposure, the tannins firmer, and the finish longer and more defined. Both wines share the same long-held quality that comes from Condello's cellar patience.
A Bottle To Understand It
Start with Al Caleri. It comes from the cooler parcels, fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and a touch of partial carbonic maceration, and held in bottle until Condello considers the tannins ready. It is a Sangiovese Piccolo with ripe red fruit, a firm but settled palate, fine acidity, and a dry finish with some bitterness at the close. It is a clear and honest expression of this grape and this place, accessible on release without compromising the character found in Predappio Sangiovese, distinct from better-known Romagna styles.
Anecdote
The east-facing vineyard at Condé catches the morning sun at an angle steep enough that locals have a word for it. In the speech of the Rabbi valley, that kind of direct early light is called raggio brusa: the ray that burns. Francesco Condello did not soften the description or invent a grander name for the label. He grew Sangiovese Piccolo on that slope, watched the fruit come in darker and tighter-skinned than from the cooler parcels on the other side of the estate, and put the local idiom on the bottle exactly as he found it. The wine that carries the name is the estate's longer-ageing tier, built for the cellar and suited to years of patient waiting.
Final Word
Condé is a small, focused estate making a serious case for Predappio as a distinct Sangiovese address. Two wines, one grape, one hillside area, and a release philosophy that puts tannin elegance ahead of commercial timing. Al Caleri is the place to begin.
Sources
- https://www.conde.it/
- https://www.conde.it/it/famiglia.html
- https://www.conde.it/it/territorio.html
- https://www.conde.it/it/filosofia.html
- https://www.enotecaemiliaromagna.it/en/wines-and-wineries/wineries-and-wineries-and-vinegar-producers/conde/
- https://www.conde.it/en/wine/al-caleri.html
- https://www.conde.it/it/vini/raggio-brusa.html
- https://www.aperitif.no/pollisten/produkt/conde-al-caleri-romagna-sangiovese-superiore%2C2314075