Fausto Maculan
Owner and Winemaker
It can be said that Fausto Maculan was born to make wine since he was delivered in the very building that is his office at Maculan winery today. At the age of 13, during school vacations, he worked in the winery and began to visit customers, while accompanied by a driver, since hewasn’t old enough to have his own driver’s license.
At the age of 14, Fausto enrolled at the school of enology in Conegliano, where he graduated with honors in 1970. He then completed an obligatory year of military service as an official of the Alpine Corps, a division of the Italian Army known to boast a good rapport with wine. And so Fausto came to find his true calling, managing the viticultural, productive and commercial aspects of the family business. His motto was, “A small winery making great products.” In fact, in a very difficult period for winemaking in this part of Italy, Fausto made the courageous decision to invest in improving the quality of his wines, dedicating all of his energy and time to this endeavor. He studied diligently, traveled to the best winemaking areas in the world, and boldly experimented, at times arousing incredulity in his observers. These efforts bolstered the winery’s image and brought the company to the highest qualitative levels enabling Fausto to offer his customers a complete selection of high quality white wines, impressive red wines and delicious dessert wines. Since 1985, he has been the Course Director for the Association of Italian Sommeliers (AIS). He is recognized as an expert taster and has been nominated to judge wine competitions at the national and international levels.
Fausto still remembers his first trip to America where, unable to speak English, he felt foolish as he struggled to make himself understood. Returning home, he plunged head first, as in all of his activities, into making English his second language. Even if he hasn’t mastered perfect pronunciation, he has realized a new way to communicate his love of wine to the world and above all to contribute to the ever-improving, quality and image of Italian wine.
Fausto Maculan remains enthusiastic about his profession, eager to grow his knowledge, and curious about new experimentation. He continues to travel the world, speaking on the subject of wine, yet never failing, on each return home, to dedicate himself – body and soul – to the wine and winery that were his birthplace.
For three generations the Maculan family has been selecting and vinifying the best grapes in Breganze, an enchanting village set like a small jewel at the foot of the Alps in Italy’s Veneto region. The surrounding mountains protect the area from cold winds, creating a perfect microclimate for the cultivation of vineyards. But it is Fausto Maculan’s drive and commitment, rather than any accident of nature, which set these wines apart and distinguish Maculan as an innovative and dynamic winery.
Designed by Fausto himself, the winery is one of the most stunning small wineries in Italy, an amazing mixture of ingenuity and style. The new winery provides the theatre for a marvelous combination of antique traditions and modern techniques using the latest winemaking technology. Long-held family traditions are respected: from using specially selected vineyards and the careful selection of the bunches of grapes, to aging in new, small oak barrels and conserving the grapes on racks for the production of Torcolato. The fusion of tradition and innovation results in a selection of fresh and fruity whites, well-structured reds and delicious dessert wines.
Fausto Maculan has received numerous accolades from the world’s most esteemed wine critics, and is always at the forefront of any discussion of dessert wines.
