Ca' la Bionda

Marano di Valpolicella, Veneto

Ca' la Bionda has been in the Castellani family since 1902. The estate is now managed by Alessandro and his brother Nicola, with their father Pietro physically, still doing the work of two men. Alessandro manages the winery and Nicola the vineyards.

Marano covers one of the highest points in Valpolicella and the wines are famed for their freshness. The soils are predominantly clay, mixed with a high percentage of llimestone, which gifts the wines great elegance and minerality. 

In essence, Alessandro is a traditionalist and believes in minimum intervention in his winemaking as well as in the vineyard. Vines are mostly trained using the unfashionable and ancient pergola* system. In both hotter and wetter vintages, this has proved extremely effective, more so than the Guyot* trained ‘modern’ vineyards.

Their vineyards are now certified as organic, which in reality means that nothing has changed.