Villaoppi - Winery

VILLA OPPI: Known also by the names of ‘Castle of Oppi’, it started its activity as an ancient Roman post station(a building where the traveller would  stop to relax, restore and change horses) about 2000 years ago, thanks to its strategic location along the busy Via Emilia, halfway between the cities of Piacenza and Parma. Initially the post station was  dedicated to the higher ranking officers of the Roman legions that were transiting to the northern corners of the Roman empire.

At a later stage the post and horse station activities were extended to all travellers on the Via Emilia. Records dating the early 1500s indicate that a TENUTA OPPI (Oppi Estate) was very active as an inn. It was common practice at that time that travellers would be served food and produce made directly on the premises, starting with the wine, which represented the main income of the estate. It was precisely from the wine that the estate came to be known as TENUTA OPPI, namely because of the many Opium Maple trees that could be seen in front of our winery. These trees were widely cultivated as a live mechanical support for vine shoots, which would be tutored to grow on the tree branches – poles and metal wires were methods introduced much later. This system of tutoring is called ‘married vine’ (vite ‘maritata’). The post station service continued well until the beginning of the 1800’s, when Marie Louise of Austria (second wife of Napoleon Bonaparte), Duchess of Parma and Piacenza, who often stopped here for refreshments during her trips to Piacenza, decided that the building would make a good private residence: it was ideally located and easily accessible from both Parma and Piacenza, and it enjoyed much better privacy compared  to her own court in Parma. So she decided to purchase the residence privately. We owe thanks

today to Maria Luigia for introducing the first Agrarian Reform, which boosted agricultural development across her domains. The Reform introduced new varieties of vines from France (Marsanne and Cabernet amongst others), and thus Villa Oppi produced the first cut “Bordeaux” ever achieved in Italy in 1820, through a combination of French and Italian grapes

In our days, the TENUTA OPPI WINE GROUP has become a recognized Brand in the arena of high-quality wine around the world, thanks to the 15 wineries under its control that produce many different varieties of premium Italian wines.

At the moment we have a large range of wines from the most important  italian wine’s  regions. The distribution is all around the world with more than 30 countries covered