OUR PARTNER | Tenuta Santa Maria Valverde (Valpolicella)
We stop at this winery every week with our cyclists as part of our ride through the Lessinia & Valpolicella areas. We must bring our guests here, because this place is magical.
Nicola and Ilaria, the owners of Tenuta Santa Maria Valverde inherited this vineyard from Nicola’s family. They saw potential in the land and the location, and after 20 years of nurturing the vines, they began to produce Amarone under their own brand “Tenuta Santa Maria Valverde”, named for the little church on the top of the hill where they were married.
Seated on a bucolic hilltop, the old house on the property, “Il Gazzo”, was built around 1500. The house began as a post where people passing through the area could stop for the night to sleep and change horses as they ventured North. With a long corridor down the middle, and rooms to the left and right, more than 50 people could be housed. Today the house is occupied by Nicola, Ilaria and family, including two children, two dogs and two cats. Passed down through the family, Tenuta Santa Maria Valverde is a charming place to visit and the work that is done there honors the family legacy by working with nature in the most green and sustainable way.
Tenuta Santa Maria Valverde is an ultra-premium winery, handcrafting superior wines from the best the Valpolicella region has to offer. All their grapes are sustainably farmed, handpicked and hand sorted, resulting in lower yields, yet higher quality grapes, with intense flavors.
As a small producer, winemaker Nicola dedicates his full attention to a hands-on approach during each step of the wine making process. This allows him to personally monitor the quality of the wines from vine to bottle. And, he has the experience of 4 generations of red wine making behind him. He and Ilaria are committed to making the best handcrafted wines and creating the best Valpolicella and Amarone tasting experience for their customers.
This place is magic… a perfect blend of nature’s beauty and its forces to create just the right conditions….with a little bit of wizardry from Nicola and Ilaria to make this amazing wine. If you have the chance to stop there for a winetasting, we are sure you will be enchanted.
Tenuta Santa Maria Valverde
Località Gazzo, 4, 37020 Marano di Valpolicella VR
https://www.tenutasantamariavalverde.it/