A prestigious Villa, a long-lasting winemaking tradition and a family who is passionate keeper of it: the Begnoni. Santa Sofia headquarters and cellars are in Pedemonte (Verona), one of the most beautiful and attractive zones in the Classic Valpolicella area. The cellars are underneath and beneath Villa Santa Sofia, formerly known as Villa Serego. Designed by famous architect Andrea Palladio in 1560 in accordance with the instructions of Marcantonio Serego, a rich lord married to Ginevra Alighieri, the project was never completed and nowadays we can only see one third of the original plan.

Since 1996 Villa Santa Sofia has been included among UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites along with other Palladio’s buildings. Already in the mid-800, the company was known for the excellent quality of its wines. The wines are produced from grapes carefully selected coming from the most suited and best exposed hillsides in the surrounding area.
Over the years, Santa Sofia has built up and maintained a reputation which has seen it increase successfully from a “small estate with high quality” to a company which has become one of the most significant realities in the Veronese winemaking world, pursuing a “strategy of excellence” – as Giancarlo likes to call it.
All that allowed Santa Sofia to position their wines in more than 50 countries around the world.
The company has recently bought a new vineyard in Briago, Valpantena, reaching the goal of a 78 hectares propriety.
Today the Begnoni family lives enthusiastically their role as witnesses and guardians of this great wine tradition.

Looking for uniqueness and greatness, the very first Riserva by Santa Sofia was born, a wine that connects wisdom of the man and elegance from the land. Eight years of waiting for Amarone Riserva, noble reproduction of a region that is rich and winding, still capable to surprise us thanks to precious men’s performance. A wine refined and representative of the company personality, genuine tell of a vision and an idea born and raised from vineyards to cellars starting with vintage 2012. A vintage characterized by hot weather and rains, when Santa Sofia’s winemakers decided to set aside ripe and rich grapes of the “wisest” vine rows to observe their evolution and potential of ageing.

After 100 days of appassimento, 5 years in Slavonian barrels and two years in bottles – the minimum range of time to call it “Riserva” – today we can finally taste a wine new and unique, with a vibrant taste thanks to the vegetal side, given by fresh herbs, aromatic herbs and balsamic notes, along with fresh and ripe fruits, then confiture. The vintage now available is 2013. In comparison to Amarone Santa Sofia, the Riserva has been aged for two years more in the bottle, for a total of five years in barrels and two in bottles.

FROM AMARONE TO RIPASSO, WINES FOR FOOD AND WINE LOVERS

Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG Classico Riserva

The Amarone della Valpolicella Riserva is born by the oldest rows dedicated to the production of Amarone in Valpolicella Classica. The ageing is in big barrels. A unique wine is born, particularly complex and elegant, with a perspective of ageing in bottle that could be surprising. The project is son of Giancarlo Begnoni and the actual winemaker Matteo, and wants to express the coherence of Santa Sofia’s style. Complexity, elegance, maturity and pleasure at the same time. Still with more intensity and wideness, with the awareness that you can have elegance thanks to the selection of older vines and a longer ageing. The ripeness of the fruit, the juiciness, the acidity, all that creates a great balance on the palate. A wine that we can expect to become beautiful.

Montegradella Valpolicella DOC Classico Superiore

It was produced for the first time with vintage 1974, in a moment of great success for oenology in Italy and Verona. These are the years in which the greatest labels are born in Toscana and Piemonte. And so, an interpretation of Valpolicella, similar to Amarone, is born, with the same ambition and still an easy drinkability and more versatile pairing. The appassimento is only for 45 days and the ageing is shorter, 18 months in barrels and barrique. The Montegradella has all the characteristics necessary to the production of wines from appassimento and also wines made to last in time, suitable for long ageing, immortal and authentic.

Valpolicella Ripasso DOC Superiore

The Valpolicella Ripasso is a wine of quite a structure and alcohol strength, obtained from the second fermentation of Valpolicella on the residual grapes of Amarone and Recioto (the so called repassage) that gives to the wine an upgrade in alcohol, polyphenolic substances and extracts: this means a unique product with a wide body, roundness and an excellent longevity. Santa Sofia style wants the Ripasso to be more versatile, immediate and juicy. At the palate the wine is very fine, elegant, delicate but intense. It has a balanced structure, which aims to the freshness of the fruit that is completed by the concentration of the appassimento; it is vibrant, with a sapidity that stimulates the desire for one more sip. It engages the pleasure of Valpolicella, held by the austerity of tradition.