Touring Vineyards in Northern Italy, Veneto

I’m not going to lie, upon opening Gills & Co, one of the things I was most looking forward to was receiving that first invitation abroad to visit a winery. There’s something so special about being there in person, seeing first hand the passion these winemakers have for their industry, the care and enthusiasm they put into each bottle and so when I received that email, after nearly two years of trading, I jumped at the chance. We were off to Veneto, a region in Northern Italy, most specifically Soave and Valpolicella.

First up was Franz Haas, a family owned vineyard in Alto Adige which sits on the Swiss and Austrian border. We headed straight to their vineyards’ highest point, 1150 metres above sea level. The air was much cooler here, around a 7 degree decline from where the winery sat (a 25 minute car ride back down the hill). 

Here they were growing Pinot Nero, a grape variety Franz is a well known expert in. We tried a variety of their portfolio, including their Dolomiti Pinot Grigio, Lepus Pinot Blanc, Gewurztraminer, Schweizer Manna (a blend of Riesling, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Kerner), Moscato Rosa and their Pinot Nero.

The stand out here for me was the Pinot Grigio as it was fuller and richer than most that I’ve tried.

Day 2 saw us travelling south to Lugana. Sat on Lake Garda is the Ca’ Dei Frati winery, home to Turbiana (Trebbiano di Lugana). One of the most interesting things about visiting here was the ability to try the varying styles of Turbiana depending on the refinement and development process of each wine. Lees ageing post fermentation created a greater richness on the palette I haven’t had the pleasure of trying before.

It came as no surprise to see their enormous winery was filled with state of the art equipment after hearing they produce around 6 million bottles a year (all of which contain hand harvested grapes).

Later that afternoon we headed to Valpolicella to a winery called Allegrini. Their family owned estate comprises a whopping 120 hectares and specialises in producing Corvina, Corvenone, Rondinella and Oseleta. Within the winery, we saw stacks of drying grapes all of which had huge fans in front of them to maintain the moisture levels which can cause rot. Grapes here would typically dry for 3 months before being pressed, producing intense rich flavours with high levels of alcohol.

Our final day started nearby, again in Valpolicella but this time at the La Giuva winery in the province of Verona. Here was a much smaller operation, with the most differing factor being they produce BIG Amarone - 17% to be precise. 

Producers from the other wineries all spoke of their processes to make sure their Amerone didn’t become too big, ensuring an easier to drink and more food friendly wine was produced. As a result, La Giuva’s offering was something similar to Pedro Ximenez. A sherry like, insanely rich Amarone - utterly delicious.

Our last stop was in Soave to a winery called Pieropan. Home to Garganega, their winery was simply beautiful. It offered a sleek yet highly functional design throughout, most notably its egg shaped concrete fermentation tanks which allow for better movement in fermentation due to its unique shape.

We tried their whole range, and as familiar as the aromas and tastes were as we stick a large range of their portfolio in our shop , I was blown away when we got to try some of their older vintages, in particular the 2013 Calvarino which offered a more complex richer version of their current vintage.

I’ll be talking through the trip in more detail, along with trying the wines again with our customers at our tasting in our shop over the coming weeks.

Thank you Liberty, for a fantastic and memorable trip!