Fasoli Gino is an organic estate winery 12 miles east of Verona, in Colognola ai Colli in the Valpolicella region of Veneto in north-east Italy. Fasoli Gino produces Soave DOC, Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOCG and Recioto di Soave DOCG. It dates from 1925 when it was founded by Amadio Fasoli senior as a fruit and vegetable farm.

Owner: Amadio & Natalino Fasoli (brothers); also Giordano Fasoli; also Matteo Fasoli (who worked at Eikendal in South Africa A in 2003; supports Verona FC).

Staff: Oenologist: Umberto Menini.

It’s easy to see why Italy has the most organic vineyards in the world when meeting organic winegrowers like the Fasoli family. They are typical of an Italian winery that has stayed close to its roots: firstly via the Fasoli family’s desire to respect the soil through organics, and secondly because the business remains resolutely family owned. Different generations of the Fasoli family, rather than hired consultants, take all the decisions on growing the grapes, fermenting and ageing the wines, and then selling them under their own name.

Matteo Fasoli, who represents the third generation of his family to farm here says “when you are born into a family such as ours you are constantly reminded of the past. In our case this means remembering that the estate was founded in 1925 by my grandfather Amadio Fasoli. Okay, it’s nice to have this history behind you, of finding out how Amadio planted the first vines with his own hands, then sold the wine to local inns and taverns in local cities like Verona, Vicenza and Padua, using his own horse and cart to deliver the wine. Our winery’s history sounds like just another piece of folklore, but it really is our life history. We didn’t make it up. However, whilst looking to the past in respecting our origins we must also look ahead. This means our family must start thinking about what kind of estate it will leave future generations of Fasolis. I am not just talking about the winery buldings or our sales structure here, but specifically about the vineyards. If we don’t protect the vines and the soils they grow in now, how can we hope to leave something viable for future generations? This is why we have been farming organically here now for over twenty years. We could see the damage weedkillers and modern pesticides and fertilizers could do long-term to the soils and to vine health and decided on another strategy. How can you make a living wine if you are killing the vital organisms in the soil using weedkillers? If you lose the micro-organisms and worms from the soil, there is nothing to bind the soil, to give it the necessary texture and friability, and pretty soon you get erosion by wind, sun and rain. If you run out of weedkiller and fertilizer you can always go to the weedkiller and fertilizer shop to buy some more. But if you run out of soil, where do you go? What are you going to say as an old man when your grandchildren come to ask you ‘why did you not leave anything for us to farm, grandpa?’ Lots of people involved in organics says that ‘the land is not ours, we just look after it for future generations’. Perhaps some people think this is a tired old stereotype, but for me as the third generation of my family to farm in these vineyards it’s one I hold dear.”

Italian family life can be stifling too, and Matteo is one of an increasing number of young Italian wine professionals who have chosen to gain a wider vision through work experience in other wine producing countries, in his case a stint in a South African winery.

“Sometimes when you travel abroad you pick up new ideas, and sometimes the experience teaches you that, in fact, at home we are already getting many things right in the vineyards, so we don’t need radical changes.”

One key technique used at Fasoli Gino is a special type of pruning called ‘pergola corte’. “Avoiding man-made fungicides because you want to be organic is great,” says Matteo “but as an organic farmer it is not simply enough to say ‘we won’t use this spray’ or ‘we won’t use that spray’. You have to go further in your approach. You have to ask yourself how can you prevent fungal disease problems like rot from occuring in the first place. As we are near Lake Garda, it can be humid enough for fungal diseases to thrive. So you need to make the vines grow in such a way as to allow the grape bunches as much air and sun light as possible, as fungal diseases hate airy, bright conditions. Then, not only are you able to stop any use of the systemic sprays that enter the vine’s sap and which are banned under the organic rules, but you can then use those contact sprays such as sulphur and Bordeaux Mixture, which are allowed under organics, as little as possible.”

The ‘pergola corte’ system of pruning allows the grape shoots the best of both worlds. On the one hand, the shoots and leaves which grow upwards shade the grapes from excess over head sunlight which would cause sunburn and flabby wines. But, the shoots also flop downwards too, but not completely. By only partially overhanging the grapes there is still plenty of lateral airflow through the vineyard and this keeps diseases and disease-causing pests like the grapeworm caterpillar at bay. Also, because the shoots are ‘corte’ or short, rather than too long, sunlight reflecting off the vineyard’s generally bright, sandy clay soils rebounds up onto the grapes. This allows them to ripen healthily, and gradually. Healthy, gradual ripening is something of a holy grail for wine producers.

“What we want is the grapes to ripen their flavours just as the grapes have ripened their sugars. In other words, we don’t want underflavoured grapes with too much sugar [alcohol], or grapes with the right amount of flavour but lacking in sugar [alcohol]. We want balanced wines. And for that, you need balanced vines.”

And a balanced approach in which the needs of today’s winegrowers are being carefully weighed against the expectations of future generations of not just wine drinkers, but the farmers who grow the wines too.

Organic certification: Fasoli Gino began organic farming in 1980, and has been fully certified organic by AIAB since 1987.| 2002 15ha AIAB. | 2003 14ha AIAB. | 2005 ICEA. | 2007 100% certified organic. | 1990 they were A.I.A.B approved.| 2007 15ha ICEA. 2008 17ha ICEA. 2017 100 ha M Bio 2017.

Biodynamic Certification: 2006 Demeter-certified Biodynamic practices began.

Vineyards: 85ha of vines in the lower reaches of the Illasi Valley on pergola (source: via phone to the estate, 29 Sept 2017).

Grape purchases: Bought in from certified organic estates.

Winery: Energy efficient solar powered from 2003.

White wines

Liber: 2006 Garganega. Free run juice style.

Bianco di Custoza: This crisp, dry white wine is made mainly from three grapes. Trebbiano Toscano gives the wine its obvious lemony crispness. The Tocai Friuliano adds a exotic flavours of lime. The Garganega (which crops up in the Soave, immediately below) provides appley intensity and roundness. Organic farming gives the grapeskins extra thickness, magnifying the fruit flavours.

Soave DOC, Borgoletto: 2004 Nice creamy style, clear and not too estery, with decent weight and clarity too. Some Lees too as quite yeasty at Mill Bio 2006. |2005 Tank sample was similar, perhaps a bit more citric than the 2004 but again good texture at Mill Bio 2006. Vegan.

Soave DOC, Pieve Vecchia: This dry white wine is fermented in oak casks from 100% Garganega grapes which are typical of the Soave region. Most Soave is bland and flavourless, but Fasoli Gino’s top Soave (they make three) has fantastic concentration, a reassuringly soft peachy texture with a powerful, zesty apple freshness. The concentration comes from the naturally low yields only old vines give – and vines only survive into old age if soils are healthy. Fasoli Gino’s oldest vines grow in a vineyard parcel called ‘Pieve Vecchia’, hence the name.

Soave Superiore DOC:.

Pink wines

Veronese IGT Rosato Frizzante: Rondinella and Molinara.

Bardolino Chiaretto: A ‘chiaretto’ is Italian for a ‘clear red wine’, in other words a pink wine (rosé in French). Matteo Fasoli says ‘we love making this wine, as we have to taste the vats regulary once they are filled with the red grapes and their clear juice. After a few hours of soaking and fermenting the juice starts picking up red colour from the skins. When we see that it is just dark enough we run the juice out of the tank by gravity and allow it to finish fermenting off the skins.’ This wine is a light, dry, summer quaffer, with light morello cherry fruit

Red wines

Bardolino La Corte del Pozzo: Don’t expect this dry red wine to be a blockbuster in terms of colour. This is because the main grape varieties used – Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara – have quite thin skins. The trick is to keep these skins healthy via clever pruning (see profile, above), so that their delicate, crisp cherry and cranberry flavours shine in a wine made to be drunk within a few months of purchase. Can be chilled before serving.

Valpolicella La Corte del Pozzo: Valpolicella is Bardolino’s ‘big brother’. It is made from the same three grapes as Bardolino, but slightly heavier soils give a more robust wine. The Corvina gives the wine its mouthfeel, the Rondinella gives roundness and the Molinara provides subtle cherry and bilberry flavours. Drink within a year of purchase and serve at room temperature.

Calle: 2006 100% Merlot.

Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOCG, Alteo: 2013 17.5%. 65% Corvinone. 20% Corvina, 15% Rondinella. Dense dark fruit aromas, a dense palate with a mix of dry plum-skin ruby-red fruit and an appley-green style of acidity from the Corvinone (tasted blind for Decanter in London 17 Jan 2019).

Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOCG, La Corte del Pozzo: Valpolicella is Bardolino’s ‘big brother’. It is made from the same three grapes as Bardolino, but slightly heavier soils give a more robust wine. The Corvina gives the wine its mouthfeel, the Rondinella gives roundness and the Molinara provides subtle cherry and bilberry flavours. Drink within a year of purchase and serve at room temperature.

Dried Grape Wines

Recioto di Soave DOCG San Zeno:

Contact

Fasoli Gino

Via Cesare Battisti, 41

37030 San Zeno di Colognola ai Colli (VR), Italy

Tel 045.7650741

Website: www.fasoligino.com

Ecologist Winegrower Profile