The Origins
Gambellara lies in between Vicenza and Verona, at the south-western edge of Lessinia, in a marvelous area studded with round hills and soils deriving from ancient inactive volcanoes. The town’s territory has always been an area dedicated to viticulture, as several historical documents testify. Pietro de Crescenzi’s treaty “De Agricoltura” dating back to 1300, is an example of such historical documents. Gambellara represents one of the winemaking excellences in Veneto region, with regards to both white wines, and dessert wines produced with dried grapes. Gambellara hosts, in fact, its own Wine Route, which takes the visitors through the territory to discover its most characteristic products.
The soil
The soils on which our vines grow are of volcanic origin, deriving from ancient eruptions that happened when the area was still submerged by the ocean. This terrain conformation is characterized by the presence of basalt and tuff, rocks of great sturdiness which derive from the cooling of lava, and because of this, they are rich in minerals which can be found, with all their vibrancy, in the wines of this territory.
The natural fertility of our terrains benefits further from the biodynamic methods we use, such as the horn manure and the green manure. The green manure utilizes the natural properties of the seeds planted in between the vine rows to increment the nutrients in the soil. All of this allows us to obtain grapes of an excellent quality from which we obtain our wines.
The climate
The hills offer the vineyards excellent exposure to sunlight and breezes, both fundamental during wintertime too, for the drying process of the grapes with the traditional hanging “picaio” technique, a technique still adopted only by few winemakers in the area. Optimal light and air currents are also essential to preserve most of the hill-side vineyards from the frosts that can threaten the production during the first months of the year, as well as to grant the perfect ripening of the grapes during the warmer months.
The grapes
The prime grape variety in Gambellara is the Garganega grape, a native variety with an exceptional potential for drying and long aging, but also extremely versatile for the production of mineral, dry white wines. Its presence on the territory has been documented since the Middle Ages, as well as the quality of the wines made with it.
In more recent years, we have added the cultivation of the Durella variety to the Garganega variety. Durella is also a native grape of the Lessinia mountains. The sharpness of this grape variety makes it ideal for the production of Metodo Classico sparkling wines, energetic and dynamic as the territory they come from.
