The family Maculan has been making wine for three generations in Breganze, a small town found at the foothills of the Dolomite mountains northwest of Venice. The current generation has led the family winery away from the mass production of merely acceptable wines toward a quest for wines of highest quality. Fausto, an oenologist who trained at the Conegliano Wine Institute, also studied winemaking practices in France and California. Today he is also a wine making consultant to several top clients in Italy. The quality of the vineyard holdings around Breganze is impressive and Maculan has continued to purchase prime vineyard parcels in the area as they become available. The technique of production he employs includes the use of French oak barrels and the finest and most modern equipment available. The wines include fresh and fruity whites, rich and complex reds and sumptuous, prize-winning dessert wines such as his Dindarello and the highly acclaimed Torcolato. The quality of a great wine derives from the happy marriage of a series of natural factors and the intentions of a person. In Breganze the natural factors are there and the Maculan family are not lacking in enthusiasm at making great wines, which has handed down the peasant tradition of making and selecting wine for generations. The hills where the vines are situated are of both morainic and volcanic origin, an ideal environment for growing vines. The winery, situated in the old city center of Breganze, is a marvelous combination of antique traditions and modern techniques. Everything laid down according to tradition is respected, from the careful selection of the bunches to the conservation of the grapes on racks for the production of Torcolato, from wine making based on selected vineyards (cru) to ageing in new small oak barrels (carati or barriques). But the magic results are obtained upon ageing: in the underground cells there are hundreds of barrels and thousands of bottles waiting for the right moment to be appreciated by refined palates.