WINERY: Corte Quaiara
DESCRIPTION: Intense colour with subtle streaks of copper. On the nose, aromas of calycanthus flower, acacia and ripe fruit; on the palate, an intriguing, expansive mouthfeel with persistent minerality and an enveloping, sapid richness on the finish.
BEST WITH: Perfect as an aperitif or to accompany shellfish, appetizers and seafood.
Analytical data:
Alcohol: 13% Vol.
Total acidity: 6.10 g/l
Residual sugars: 2.6 g/l
Ph: 3.25
Vintage characteristics: Our Pinot Grigio in Amphora is made with 100% Pinot Grigio grapes grown on a hectare and a half of vineyard on a gentle slope in the Morainic Hills. The stones and pebbles deposited by glaciers over the course of millions of years, most recently in the Würm glaciation, have produced a soil from which the vines – planted 20 years ago – transfer a sapid, mineral quality to the grape with a steady undercurrent of ripe fruit.
The result is a true one-off, a wine that could only come from this terroir, with its unique soil and a climate tempered by the vicinity to Lake Garda.
The labour-intensive, artisanal approach I take to my work in both the vineyard and the winery, and my commitment to producing characterful wines, aging them in terracotta amphorae, have driven my pursuit of something genuinely unique that I can share with other people.
In terms of climate, the 2018 vintage enjoyed ideal conditions, with everything in place to offer one of the best crops in recent seasons.
The grapes were able to ripen slowly and steadily – this being more a question of light than temperature – encouraging the accumulation of polyphenols, which we were able to capture by macerating the skins and accentuate by aging in amphorae.
Giovanni Montresor ( the owner) has always been a sort of second home. My family has in fact worked with wine for 150 years and, in the past, its members have often been pioneers in vine-growing and wine production.
After initially being employed by a large Veronese wine company, I felt a strong need to work in close contact with the land and my vines. So, thanks to my determination and the invaluable support of my family, the Corte Quaiara project took shape, becoming once more – vintage after vintage – a fully-fledged wine-producing domaine. When I decided to give new life to Corte Quaiara,
I realised that I wanted to make wines that were able to express who I am. I wanted to produce wines in which you can smell the scents of the earth, of the grapes becoming must, and of the vats in which the wine matures. I wanted those who drink my wines to savour each phase of the production process, so I learnt all about it, from the vine to the bottle.
In my wines you can find my full identity: the strain on my back; my hands, stained with earth and grape juice; and my pleasure in seeing, enclosed in the bottle, the realisation of my initial idea. Today I am a vigneron.
