Tenuta di Corte Giacobbe - Soave Di Ronca, Veneto, Italy

The Dal Cero family history begins with a volcanic figure. Augusto. It was he who, in the midst of war and devastation, managed to keep intact a dream that was rooted in the first vineyards on his property in Soave. The two hills whose lava soils he broke apart with his hands to plant his vineyards were the dream that bore fruit.

His sons Dario and Giuseppe followed in the same furrow as their father, and in the 1980s they turned their attention to Tuscany, to Cortona, where they found a centuries-old, prestigious growing area to produce great red wines, at their Tenuta Montecchiesi.

Today, the third generation, Alberto, Davide, Nico, and Francesca, guide the Dal Cero family, achieving new evolutionary growth, with expansion into international markets as well as the acquisition of a third wine estate, in Valpolicella, a growing area that is utterly distinctive in its geological formation.

• The vineyards surrounding the ancient Corte Giacobbe are planted on the slopes of two extinct volcanoes, Calvarina and Crocetta, whose soils, of volcanic derivation, are composed of lava and tuff, and are rich in micro-elements.

• The area’s unique geologic history significantly impacts the mineral and organic makeup of the grapes, shapes their pronounced aromatic and mineral characteristics, and gives a delicious tanginess to the flavours of the wines.

• The Corte Giacobbe cru wines are the product of vineyards at the very summit of the volcano, in those mineral-rich soils.