Ten years and three souls for Giannitessari between Lessini, Soave and the Berici Hills

The Giannitessari company celebrates ten years of activity in 2023 . Since its origins, the winemaking reality of Roncà (Verona) has built and refined its identity by operating in three territories : Monti Lessini , Soave and Colli Berici , according to a vision according to which the winemaker is like a sculptor whose task is to free the work of art already contained within a block of stone. This approach has guided the founder Gianni Tessari over the years: born in 1963 in Brognoligo, a hamlet of Monteforte d'Alpone (Verona), he began very young to measure himself with viticulture by experimenting in the family vineyards and signing successful labels in the Soave since the 1980s and in Valpolicella. In 2013 he decided to embark on a new and personal adventure in the world of wine: "The company was born from the encounter between my experience as a producer, gained through the comparison with different territories and styles, and the opportunity to work with varieties and different but complementary terroirs – explains Gianni Tessari -. The first years were a melting pot of trials, experiments, analysis of existing situations in order to create and propose the best synthesis of each appellation ”. The corporate path has in fact been outlined along different routes. For the Soave DOC, already widely established, an attempt was made to further raise the qualitative bar by focusing on the specific characteristics that the Garganega expresses in each vineyard. For the less known and more recent Lessini Durello, it was decided to produce classic method sparkling wines from durella grapes only: vigorous, fresh and lively, the bubbles of Giannitessari benefit from the volcanic soils rich in minerals, the cool climate and the marked temperature range, gaining more and more space in Italy and abroad, as demonstrated by the growing interest on the part of the market. The road taken for the Berici Hills focused on the autochthonous red tai and on a blend of the best black berried grapes, in order to obtain an ambitious Colli Berici Rosso. Over the ten years the company has grown in terms of production but also in terms of staff, placing Gianni alongside a second young winemaker, Marco Dugatto, and inserting a referent for hospitality. In particular, the entry of Gianni's eldest daughter, Valeria Tessari , into the role of sales manager, fully represents family continuity as well as the necessary renewal. “The future challenge is not limited to the corporate sphere and does not concern the production aspect – declares Valeria Tessari -. It consists in reaffirming and consolidating the value of denominations, both in the old and in the new markets. We do our part with the typical stubbornness of the agricultural world, awareness of our value and the determination to communicate it. At the same time we give more and more centrality to the theme of respect for the territory and the people who inhabit it, a real necessity by virtue of which we are making structural changes, from land management to energy production. Since 2021 we have also acquired the certification for organic transformation". In this sense, Gianni Tessari was a pioneer in the area with regard to PIWI varieties , interpreted according to a curious and experimental approach. The plants date back to 2014, the year following the foundation of the company, as soon as the Solaris grape was admitted to the province of Verona among the permitted varieties. The first harvest brings the 2017 vintage and the latest released, 2021, also stands out for its organic certification. With a view to continuous improvement in relation to the environmental impact, the company's next steps will concern the installation of solar panels and a new energy-saving press in the cellar, where the cellar was also recently renovated, focusing above all on large woods from France and Slavonia. From a wine point of view, the Giannitessari company is currently engaged in planting new vineyards within the DOC Colli Berici while, in the near future, plans are made to expand the range of wines and enhance the welcome in the cellar, a choice which proves to be increasingly strategic for conquering end customers, whether they are tourists or locals. The development of distribution in Italy and abroad is also planned, encouraged by the growth in demand recorded in recent years, especially from non-EU countries which, with the United Kingdom and Asia , are confirmed among the major consumers of Giannitessari wines . In ten years the company has gone from a predominantly local dimension to a presence in 25 foreign countries.