Suavia Azienda Agricola

Country: Northeast Italy

Region: Soave, Veneto

In 1982 Giovanni Tessari and his wife Rosetta, aware of their land’s great potential for producing high-quality wines, decided to stop taking their grapes to the local cooperative winery in order to produce their own wine. They felt a strong bond with the area’s tradition and culture, and so they decided to name their winery Suavia after the ancient town of Soave.

History

Since 1887 generations the Tessari family has been dedicated to the cultivation of their vineyards in the heart of the Soave Classica area, the oldest white wine production area in Italy. This is a restricted area with special soil, climatic and morphological conditions centred around the small village of Fittà at 296 metres above sea level. Today Giovanni and Rosettas three daughters Meri, Valentina and Alessandra run the winery in Fritta.

Vineyards and Viticulture

The farm’s twelve hectares of vineyards are located in the centre of the Soave Classica area. Precisely, they belong to two particular microzones with unique and unmistakeable characteristics, those of Fittà and Castellaro.

Vineyards share the same essential characteristics: volcanic soil rich in trace elements; a hilly microclimate, cooler than that of Soave; high altitudes of at least 250m; old vines aged 35+ years; and native grape varieties.

Vineyard management focuses on the principals of vine balance; respect for the environment and landscape, and relationship between the variety of vine and territory.

Winemaking

Suavia’s modern and efficient winery was designed in order to obtain the very best from the region’s native grapes. There were two crucial points to the winery design: the first was to develop a structure capable of making the best possible use of gravity to reduce the movement of must and wine to a minimum, and the second was to create an architectural style that would blend seamlessly in with the surrounding wine producing landscape.