Natural Landscapes and Impressive Dedication to Tradition

How does Italy’s Po Valley produce traditional wines in a market not always rewarding authenticity and history? Gorgo winery aims to change this approach.

By Andrea Grignaffini
Dec 01, 2020
tagAlt.Lake Garda coastal shores panorama cover 20201201

The morainic lands forged by ancient glaciers that are also responsible for creating the large natural amphitheater east of Lake Garda, are home today to a spectacular winery, Gorgo, owned by Roberta Bricolo.  The gentle sloping hills of this landscape enjoy staggeringly gorgeous views of the Po Valley, perhaps providing inspiration for the winemakers who cherish and integrate tradition and history into each bottle they produce.

In Bricolo’s winery, cultivation techniques are consolidated: historically molded by the ancient traditions of Custoza and Bardolino, and preserved by the historical memory of the local people, a peculiar respect has been imposed over time, both for the plants and for the land. In accordance with this memory, the winery has developed a very precise, completely mechanical philosophy of soil management, which coincides with simple ploughing to clean the soil, and exclusive use of only organic fertilizers, especially for the younger vineyards.

In almost fifty years of activity since the first rooted cuttings were planted in 1973 by the tenacious grafting of the winery’s two founders, Roberto and Alberta, Roberta's parents, a familial and territorial history has been shaped: that of a flourishing, deeply solid agricultural reality located all around the small village of Custoza, in the municipality of Sommacampagna (VR). From its original 22 hectares, Gorgo has ringed up other plots, arriving at today’s 53 hectares.  And with each hectare added to their already considerable heft, the Gorgo winemakers maintain their classic painstaking care of every single passage in their production process, from cultivating the land, to stocking the cellar, and finally to filing the bottles.

It is not by chance, therefore, that the agricultural and oenological assistance has been entrusted, for almost forty years, to the care of the same agronomist and oenologist.  It’s also not a coincidence that Roberta has dedicated her body and soul to the family business, eschewing her flourishing forensic career. Thanks to the magnetism of the territory and the privileged relationship with time, Gorgo has become one of the most representative flags of our beautiful wine-growing Italy.

An eclectic yet modern company where everything is taken in consideration in a greater picture, even if the perspective is not so long.  As such, its large vineyard, cared for like a garden, demands entirely-manual, scalar harvests.  This dedication to the best interests of the vines can require more than a month to harvest, in the most complex vintages, as each plot has its own timeframe, and each variety, such as pink muscatel, has a precise level of ripeness.

The winery reflects the vineyard’s philosophy, and in 2005, the estate underwent a major architectural renovation.  Today’s approach is rigorous, functional, airy and bright - effectively representing the path of strong characterization undertaken by the company. The company’s goal? To bottle wines whose authenticity, eloquence, and territorial adherence to Custoza, Bardolino and Chiaretto, their three reference denominations, is evident immediately. "Authentic wines according to their intrinsic tradition, not distorted in their typicality by the tyranny of fashion, with a firm balance between the evolution of taste over time and the richness of authentic tradition," as eloquently stated on the company's website, organic since 2014.


Andrea Grignaffini offers an usual and authoritative insight into some of Italy's most intruiging wine regions.  Be sure to check out Andrea's full collaboration with Mamablip here, and beef up your Italian wine knowledge enjoyably!  While you're at it, learn from the Mamablip Blogging team about some exciting wine and good themes here.

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