On my recent trip to Italy, I was delighted to catch up with our friends at the winery Villa San Carlo. Located in the hills east of Verona, just outside the city, the Villa San Carlo Estate is a large and unspoilt haven of greenery, covering 70 hectares in total, Its beating heart is the elegant 18th-century villa, which nowadays boasts an eclectic neoclassical style of architecture dating back to the early 20th century.
Its perfect southwest exposure, the mild and breezy climate, the quality of the calcareous soil and the differences in altitude, which create an ideal microclimate for the grape varieties, are what make this hillside, with its ancient terraces, particularly suited to cultivation. This natural and architectural heritage has thus been preserved over the years, thanks to love and respect for the land.
In 1958, Gianni Pavesi gets married and purchases the Villa San Carlo Estate, an unequivocal life choice to raise his six children so they may enjoy the benefits of the natural environment and develop a strong connection with their land.
He immediately understands the Estate is highly suited for high-end viticulture. Year after year, he commits to planting the vineyards, fully respecting the land and without making any morphological alteration or cutting down trees, eventually reaching the current 20 hectares of vineyards, thus strengthening the purely viticultural calling of the estate.
In 2009, the year of the first vintage, Gianni realises that he wants to combine his passion for the vineyard with the value of his land in a label bearing the name Villa San Carlo. Today his daughters Antonia and Cristina carry on their father Gianni’s project.
The wines produced are typical of the area and multi-award winners, including Valpolicella, Ripasso and Amarone
