Durella wine is a rare find outside its Veneto homeland. The producers below grow it in the volcanic soils of the Monti Lessini, where its famously high acidity makes it one of Italy's most distinctive white grapes.
Photo: Cantina Marcazzan Fabio
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Durella is thought to be indigenous to the Lessini hills north of Verona, where volcanic basalt and limestone soils push the grape toward very high natural acidity — one of the highest of any Italian white variety. That acidity makes it well suited to the Metodo Classico sparkling wines of the Lessini Durello DOC, where extended lees ageing softens the edge and adds complexity. Still versions exist too, and they share the same taut, mineral quality. Each bottle here is shipped directly from the grower's own cellar, with no importer or warehouse in between.
4 of 4 wines
A mixbox is a producer's own selection of six bottles, put together as the recommendation they would make from their own range. For a grape as site-specific as Durella — grown almost entirely within one defined hill zone — a producer's box is often the clearest way to understand what that particular estate does with it across different styles or releases. Free Grape Society is a society of producers, independent experts and wine lovers, not a shop.
The growers below work within a small, geographically tight area in the Veneto, yet the wines they make from Durella vary considerably — some focus on Metodo Classico sparkling, others on still whites, and a few produce both. Reading a producer's own notes is a useful way to understand their approach before choosing, and the wine-advice service is there if you would rather talk through the differences first.
Durella is not a grape most people have formed a strong view on, which makes an independent perspective useful. Independent wine experts review wines they have personally tasted, and their reviews are visible on each wine page and on the expert's own profile. Several of the experts below have reviewed Durella wines featured on this page, so you can read what they found before deciding.
Browse the Durella wines listed on this page, add bottles to your basket, and check out using Klarna or card. Each order ships directly from the producer's cellar to your door. Free shipping is included, and delivery typically takes between 4 and 14 days depending on where the producer is based.
Send a photo to Free Grape Society customer support within 7 days of delivery. We will arrange a replacement or a refund. Because producers ship directly, quality issues are handled with the producer's direct involvement. Shared responsibility is built into how FGS works.
Yes. You can add wines from different producers to the same basket. Each producer ships their own wines separately from their cellar, so if you order from two producers you will receive two separate deliveries. Shipping is free for each.
Average delivery is 8 to 9 days from order to door. The full range is 4 to 14 days depending on the producer's location and your delivery address. Wines ship directly from the producer's cellar, not from a central warehouse.
Sparkling Durella — especially Metodo Classico — tends to show the grape's high acidity integrated with bready, yeasty complexity from extended lees ageing. Still Durella is more direct, with pronounced mineral tension and citrus. If you are new to the grape, reading the producer's own tasting notes on each wine page is a good starting point, or you can ask a wine expert directly.
Durella is grown almost exclusively in the Monti Lessini hills in the Veneto, the zone covered by the Lessini Durello DOC. Very little is planted elsewhere. The producers on this page reflect where the grape actually exists — a small, defined area where volcanic soils and altitude shape the wine's character.
The wine experts on this page have tasted and reviewed wines made from Durella. You can read their notes on the individual wine pages, or submit a question through the wine-advice form and an independent expert will respond with a personal recommendation.
Free Grape Society lists wines from independent producers who grow and bottle their own grapes. Supermarket own-label wines are typically sourced, blended, and bottled by large commercial operations rather than a named estate. The Durella wines here come from growers in the Lessini hills who are responsible for the wine from vineyard to bottle.
Rarely. Durella is a regional grape with limited production, and most of it is consumed within Italy or exported in small quantities to specialist importers. It does not appear regularly in general retail. Buying directly through Free Grape Society from the estates that grow it is one of the more straightforward ways to access it outside Italy.
Durella is a white grape native to the Veneto and Trentino-Alto Adige regions of northeast Italy, grown at altitude in the Lessini hills and the broader Monti Lessini zone. It is one of Italy's most acid-retentive varieties — the name is thought to derive from the Italian word for hard, a reference to both the thick skin and the high natural acidity that makes it difficult to ripen fully. That same acidity is also why it is prized: in warm vintages and at lower elevations where other whites turn flat, Durella holds its structure. The grape is closely associated with Lessini Durello DOC, where it is made both as a still wine and, increasingly, as a méthode classique sparkling wine aged on its lees. Producers working in the neighbouring Veneto and Trentino-South Tyrol regions sometimes blend it with Garganega or Chardonnay, though single-variety Durella shows the grape's character most clearly.
Still Durella is lean and taut — green apple, citrus peel, and a saline mineral edge that comes through clearly in wines from hillside sites. The finish tends to be long and dry. As a sparkling wine made by the traditional method, the high acidity integrates with extended lees contact to produce a structured, bread-dough and citrus profile closer to Champagne in character than to Prosecco. Both styles are notably food-compatible because the acidity cuts through fat and salt without dominating. Still Durella pairs well with freshwater fish, risotto, and the lighter lake and river dishes common in Veneto cooking. The sparkling version works across a wider table — fried food, aged cheese, and simple seafood all benefit from the wine's clean, bracing finish. For sparkling wines from nearby in Italy's north, the Lombardy mixboxes and Veneto mixboxes pages show what independent producers in the region are currently bottling.
Durella remains genuinely niche outside its home region, which means it is rarely stocked in supermarkets and seldom reaches specialist retailers far from northeast Italy. Most of the producers who grow it are small estates that sell primarily at the cellar door or through direct channels. On Free Grape Society, each bottle is shipped directly from the producer's own cellar, with no importer or warehouse in between — which is how wines like Durella, made in small quantities by estates without large distribution networks, can reach buyers across Europe. Free Grape Society is a society of producers, independent experts and wine lovers, not a shop. If you are new to the variety, the broader Italian white wines page gives context on the regional styles Durella sits alongside, and the Veneto wineries page shows which independent estates from the region are currently available.
