People
CEO
Owner
Board member
Board member
Director
Production Manager and Winemaker
Winemaker and Quality Manager
Winemaker and Sparkling Wine Manager
Winemaker and Analyst
Administrative Assistant
Administrative Assistant
Logistics and Administration Officer
Logistics and Administration Officer
Receptionist
Cellar Manager
Cellar Worker
Driver
Driver
The numbers
Hectares of vineyards on our estate
Winemaking facilities
Sparkling wine facility
Hectolitres storage capacity
Hectolitres for secondary fermentation
Our sites
Ormelle
This is the original site, the nerve centre of the company, where alongside storage, grapes are also delivered, processed and vinified, and musts are fermented.
Busco di Ponte di Piave
This is our second largest storage facility. As well as storing wine here, we also vinify the must from our Ormelle winery. It is also the main headquarters of our estate.
Levada di Ponte di Piave
This is where the secondary fermentation of our sparkling and semi-sparkling wines takes place. With a pressurised tank capacity of 10,000 hl, we can produce sparkling wines from the base wines made at our Ormelle and Busco vinification facilities, as well as process base wines for third-party production.
Our Story
“..thousands and millions of individuals work, produce and save despite every obstacle we put in their way to hinder, obstruct and discourage them. It is their natural calling that drives them, not just the pursuit of money. The satisfaction and pride of watching your business prosper, gain trust from an ever-growing clientele, expand its facilities and enhance its premises — these are forces that drive progress just as powerfully as profit.
Otherwise, how could we explain why entrepreneurs invest all their energy and capital into their businesses, often for much more modest returns than they could easily secure through other investments?”
LUIGI EINAUDI
The early years
The story began with Andrea Paladin back in 1908 in San Polo di Piave, in what is now the Casa Vittoria restaurant, but at that time was the family farmhouse, surrounded by a twenty-hectare estate.
The Paladins were a family of sharecroppers (like many at the time) who farmed the land. Unlike other families however, they also owned some land in the nearby hamlet of Roncadelle di Ormelle.
Andrea grew up with his siblings and cousins and developed a dedication to farming along with a respect for nature and its rhythms. Early on, he was passionate about and became specialised in viticulture.
A few years later, he met Teresa and the two fell in love, a love that would last a lifetime. After their marriage and the birth of their first daughter, Andrea and his brothers, Ettore and Antonio, decided that it was time to leave sharecropping and devote all their energy to the family land. And so, the three Paladin brothers founded a new winery on the land at Roncadelle di Ormelle.
In the years between World War II and the post-war period, Andrea and Teresa had three more children: after Nella came Giovanni, Ida and Armando, who is today CEO of the company.
They were challenging times, as you might imagine. But despite losing friends and relatives in the war and difficult socio-economic conditions, the Paladin brothers kept going with their enterprising business. There were ups and downs, but the business continued to grow and became increasingly focused on grape cultivation and winemaking.
Andrea, Ettore and Antonio brought their eldest sons into the business in the mid 1960s and expanded further, buying a piece of land near Ormelle, namely Via Stadio 9/a, where our headquarters is still located today.
Parting ways
In 1967 Andrea made the difficult decision to part ways with his brothers, to form a new winery with his sons, Giovanni and Armando. Andrea and his brothers remained close, maintaining an excellent relationship built on respect and friendship, which continues to this day among their descendants.
Andrea’s family took over the Ormelle site, which included a farmhouse, an adjoining barn and five hectares of very fertile land. The modern era of the company began in 1967, with Andrea’s first harvest alone with his two sons. The winery was very small and the equipment they had at the time are now collectors’ items for enthusiasts: continuous presses, wooden vats and small semi-manual filters, which at the time were the best technology around.
Growth and incorporation
In the early 1970s, Andrea’s youngest son Armando returned from military service and decided to expand the winery with his father and brother. They bought ten 250-hectolitre concrete vats, bringing the cellar’s capacity to over 3,000 hectolitres, which was quite remarkable for the time.
During the 1980s, due to market demand and the higher proportion of grapes purchased compared to those produced, Giovanni set about establishing an incorporated company, now Paladin Giovanni S.r.l. It quickly became the biggest agro-industrial company owned by the family. Its rapid growth continued, even after the death of founder Andrea in 1982.
Two brothers, one purpose
Giovanni and Armando then took over their sisters’ shares and became the outright owners. Although unusual in those days, Giovanni left his younger brother in charge of running the company, recognising his flair for business, and dedicated himself to growing the grapes and improving cultivation and winemaking techniques.
Armando’s wife Franca was a great source of support and was often a voice of reason in everyday discussions. Using her intelligence and kind nature, she managed to maintain an atmosphere of peace and harmony in the family. Franca was responsible for the success of the company shop in Ormelle, to the extent that customers still talk about her fondly even though she no longer runs the shop.
The company’s efficient management and teamwork fuelled its growth, with Giovanni and Armando eventually deciding to rent premises to manage the entire production cycle, which was now too big for the Ormelle site alone. Since then, the company has always used external warehouses and has developed a flawless logistics system.
Reflecting their entrepreneurial mindset, the Paladin brothers also opened a fishmonger business with some partners in the 1980s, which they subsequently left many years later to devote themselves entirely to grape production, winemaking and the continual improvement of quality standards.
The Busco estate
1991 saw the purchase of the Busco estate, now the family’s main holding – this site in Ponte di Piave boasts vast expanses of land, very fertile soils and the perfect conditions for growing vines. With its 27 hectares of single block vineyards, the Busco estate allowed the winery to further improve the quality of its wines, especially the most popular ones, such as the red Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Raboso, and the white Prosecco, Verduzzo Ramandolo and Manzoni blend.
The third generation of Paladins
Armando’s eldest daughter, Pamela, finished her apprenticeship in 2003 and joined the company as administrative and financial director. She was followed in 2006 by her younger brother Andrea, who worked alongside Armando in business management and Giovanni in production.
This new energy and the global popularity of Prosecco led to the exponential growth of the company. Investment has increased every year since 2008: in the winery, with the construction of a production site in Busco and a sparkling wine facility in Ponte di Piave; and on the agricultural side, with the acquisition of the Porcia estate.
One of the stars of this story, Giovanni, left the company in 2016 due to a serious illness. His influence and his affection are still with us today, as is his place in the company name.
Today's numbers
Today, Paladin is a consolidated group, led by Armando and his children Pamela and Andrea, who are both shareholders in the family holding company. Paladin Family Holding S.r.l. Includes an agro-industrial company (Paladin Giovanni S.r.l.), a sparkling wine plant hire company (Paladin spumanti & co S.r.l.) and two agricultural companies (Soc. agr. ‘San Bartolomeo’ f.lli Paladin and Soc. agr. Camilla s.s.).
The winery has a storage capacity of 200,000 hectolitres, modern vinification equipment that processes around 220,000 hundredweight of grapes each year and produces 200,000 cwt of wine for sale, as well as 10,000 hectolitres of autoclaves for an annual production of around 50,000 hectolitres of sparkling wine. There are about 200 hectares under cultivation, of which 140 are owned, with an annual production of 30-40,000 hundredweight of grapes.
Future plans
Today, the world is a completely different place than it was when Andrea and his brothers embarked on this adventure. It is an increasingly globalised world, with different attitudes towards issues like economic, social and environmental sustainability. For this reason, the company began a journey of obtaining certifications, a commitment that continues today. For Andrea’s successors today, the future lies in involving employees more actively in the production system, continuous investment in the best winemaking technologies with less environmental impact and improved energy efficiency, as well as streamlining customer service management.
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