VISITA A BODEGAS MASI EN LA VALPOLICELLA - ITALIA
Bodega familiar situada en el Veneto (Italia). Esta firma histórica elaboraa vinos de valpolicella y algunas especialidades locales muy tradicionales, como el recioto y el amarone. La casa Masi posee 40 ha en la zona del valpolicella classico y alquila viñas para producir su Bardolino DOC La Vergrona y sú Soave DOC Col Baraca.
Para una experiencia memorable proponemos: la visita de la bodega con degustación de tres vinos Masi o, como alternativa, la visita con degustación de los vinos y de varios tipos de quesos.
El tour inicia con una visita a los viñedos, donde se practica una viticultura amistosa con el medio ambiente y se cultivan las variedades vénetas cómo la Corvina y Pinot Grigio, entre otras.
La visita prosigue en la sala para la pasificación (Sala De Appassimento): un lugar único, en que las uvas se ponen a madurar en los areles de caña orgánica, de acuerdo con el método típico de las Venezie, en el que Masi ha demostrado una pericia reconocida en todo el mundo.
- Family: The history of Masi is the history of a family and its vineyards in the Venetian regions. The name itself derives from "Vaio dei Masi", the small valley in Valpolicella acquired by the Boscaini family, who are still its owners now, at the end of the XVIII century.
Today, Sandro Boscaini, company President and Managing Director, runs Masi with the help of his daughter Alessandra, in charge of sales and administration; his son Raffaele, Marketing Manager and Co-ordinator of the Masi Technical Group and his brother Bruno, Production and Plant Manager. His brother Mario has his own business, but is still part of Masi and an adviser to the management.
- Organisation: The Board is made up of representatives of the Boscaini family plus business entrepreneurs. Management looks after the core business following products from concept to sales strategy through specialist departments dealing with vineyards, winemaking and sales, supported by other departments dealing with purchases, production and administration.
- Company: Masi is a world-famous company deeply rooted in the Venetian regions with strong links to centuries-old Venetian culture. Viticulture is an integral part of this extraordinary cultural heritage and the wines that Masi makes are expressions of the values and culture of their places of origin. Viticultural expertise is expressed at Masi through the use of skilled professional practices, combining the experience that comes from tradition with the knowledge that comes from modern scientific research.
Equally, Masi’s cultural vocation, supported by its Foundation, is directed just as much to contemporary art in the present as to the past. Recent collaborations with internationally famous artists have included working with Chinese “chameleon” artist LiuBolin, and the versatile Swedish artist Ernst Billgren as part of the Costasera Contemporary Art project...
MASI AGRICOLA WINE EXPERIENCE
- Masi Wine Experience: Is the culture and hospitality project that Masi offers the public by opening not just the doors of its historic headquarters in Valpolicella but also the other centres of hospitality where Masi’s spirit and philosophy have become the guiding principles.
- Serego Alighieri Estate: At Sant’Ambrogio di Valpolicella, belongs to direct descendants of Dante the Poet, who have lived in Valpolicella since 1353. The visit, which offers a dip into the archive of the noble family of the Counts Serego Alighieri and their lives in the Valpolicella area, includes a walk through the gardens and vines of the estate and a stop at the the small Serego Alighieri cellar which is full of the aromas of cherry barrels, used according to family tradition, and afterwards, to the drying room to see the appassimento of the grapes. The experience finishes with a tasting of a selection of fine wines.
The Serego Alighieri Estate offers the chance to stay overnight in the historic Foresteria, redesigned to contain eight appartments which are decorated in the traditional style of country gentlefolk: an oasis of peace in which to take a leisurely dip into the archive of the noble family of the Counts Serego Alighieri in the Valpolicella. Also available are rooms suitable for events and conferences with a professional kitchen fully equipped for courses and the discovery of the tastes and aromas of the natural products of the Estate and the surrounding area, all matched appropriately with the wine. In the Sales area, it is possible to taste and buy the whole range of Masi and Serego Alighieri wines, along with wines from a number of great Amarone vintages.
- Offers: Visits, tastings, events, guest house, cookery courses, wine shop.
- Adress: Via Giare 277, Località Gargagnago 37015 Sant’Ambrogio di Valpolicella (Verona)
- Ph. +39 (0)45 770 36 22
- Fax. +39 (0)45 7703523
- E-mail: serego@seregoalighieri.it
- Web. www.seregoalighieri.it, www.masi.it
- GPS: 45°31’36.77”N, 10°51’48.16”E
- Wine Shop and offices are open Monday to Saturday 10am to 6pm.
- Cantine Masi: At Sant’Ambrogio di Valpolicella. Masi’s historic base is in the heart of the Valpolicella Classica region. Visitors here see the drying room where the grapes are air dried using Appassimento, a technique for which Masi’s expertise is known around the world, followed by a visit to the cellars, amongst the biggest in Italy, including the experimental cellar where the Masi Technical Group apply and evaluate the most up to date technology for vinification and refinement.
- Offers: Visits and tastings.
- Adress: Via Giare 277, Località Gargagnago. 37015 Sant’Ambrogio di Valpolicella (Verona)
- Ph. +39 (0)45 6832532
- E-mail. wine.experience@masi.it
- GPS: 45°31’36.77”N, 10°51’48.16”E
- Tenuta Canova: At Lazise on Lake Garda. Tenuta Canova on Lake Garda offers a warm welcome to those passionate about wine and food and looking to discover its secrets. There is a broad and varied offer starting with an excellent view across the vineyards and onwards to the gentle hills of Valpolicella as far as the mountains. Visitors can see the drying house, with the appassimento of the grapes, the cellar where the famous Campofiorin, one of Masi’s iconic wines, is matured, and the wine shop. Discover their new “Vino & Cucina” menu in the friendly wine bar where you can taste the entire Masi range of wines accompanied by food inspired by regional cuisine.
- Offers: Wine shop, visits, tastings, wine bar, Vino & Cucina, and picnic area.
- Adress: Via Delaini 1, Località Sacro Cuor. 37017 Lazise (Verona)
- Ph. +39 (0)45 7580239
- E-mail. canova@masi.it
- Web. www.masi.it
- GPS: 45°29’19.4”N, 10°46’17.0”E
- The wine shop is open daily 10.30am to 10pm.
- Vino & Cucina is open daily 12.30pm to 2.30pm / 6.30pm to 10pm.
- Advance reservations for guided visits at the winery are required.
VENETIAN VALUES
Masi is a company that belongs to the Venetian regions "through history, vocation and business choice." Its products and its activities express those Venetian values that can be found throughout the territory and belonged to the Serenissima Venetian Republic for almost a thousand years.
An enlightened management decision has made Masi synonymous with the area of the Triveneto and its culture in every aspect, including that of wine growing. Masi is proud to be an ambassador of this culture and these values all over the world.
- History: Le Venezie (the Venetian regions) are the location for an acknowledged and internationally famous thousand-year-old way of life. The history of Masi is the history of a family and its vineyards in Verona, part of the Veneto. The name itself derives from the Vaio dei Masi, the small valley purchased at the end of the XVIII century by the Boscaini family, still its owners today.
Masi now has lands in the best terroir sites of the Venetian regions with vineyards and historic estates. Since 1973, Masi has collaborated with the Conti Serego Alighieri family, descendants of the poet Dante, on their estates in Valpolicella. More recently, a collaboration has been launched with the Conti Bossi Fedrigotti family, who have always made wine with passion and skill in Trentino. Both agreements are part of an ambitious project aiming to rediscover the lustre of the farming and winemaking traditions of the nobility from the Venetian area.
- People: The typical inhabitant of the Veneto has firm links to the roots of his family and his homeland. He, or she, is a determined and skilled worker, always open to new experiences and work practices, exploring new lands and improving his or her skills.
Masi, directed today by Sandro Boscaini, is a family company dating back seven generations. Its strength lies in its highly motivated and highly skilled staff, loyal to the company, working in the disciplines of marketing, viticulture and winemaking. They work together in the Technical Group, whose goal it is to preserve and bring up to date the viticultural and winemaking inheritance of the Venetian regions. Masi staff are ambassadors for their homeland all over the world.
- Lands made for wine: The Venetian regions have always been ideal for viticulture, thanks to the huge variety of historically recognised terroir sites.
Masi has selected the best vineyard sites in foothill and hillside locations, paying particular attention to the development of single vineyard, or cru, wines which express the excellence of individual high quality vineyard sites and consequently have their own unique characteristics.
- Viticulture: Viticulture is an integral part of the thousand-year-old inheritance of the Venetian regions. Masi's viticultural expertise comes out through the professionalism and skill of its working practices, uniting the experience passed down by tradition with the knowledge acquired from modern research.
Particular attention is given to the selection of vineyard sites and to preserving the inheritance of native grapes and winemaking techniques from the Venetian area.
- Specialisation: Expert winemaking, which can be found widely throughout the Venetian regions, has its roots in a traditional legacy comprising: ideal vineyards, native grapes and traditional vinification techniques.
Masi has always striven to develop these factors and has a particular expertise in the Appassimento technique, which is traditionally used in the Venetian regions to concentrate aromas and tastes in a wine. The technique produces wines which are unique and majestic, like Amarone, which Masi makes in the widest and most expertly produced range available on the international market.
- Innovation: The dedication and creativity of Venetians has always been well suited to the marriage of traditional values with the modern.
Masi's mission statement is the production of quality wines, using grapes and methods native to the Venetian regions, with constant technological updates. The Masi Technical Group, which is dedicated to research and experimentation in collaboration with prestigious institutes and universities, has contributed to the development of winemaking practices in this region in a valuable way. In particular, it has helped rewrite the history of Appassimento, by creating a new category of wines from the Venetian with Campofiorin, and a modernised style of Amarone that has found international success. It has also been a pioneer in the rediscovery and use of high quality secondary Veronese grapes that had been abandoned for many decades: Oseleta, above all.
- A world player: The thousand-year-old Serenissima Venetian Republic made the Venetian regions a place where East met West and an enlightened centre for the sciences, literature, art and commerce. Today this tradition continues as the people of the Venetian regions draw strength from their identity and interact with the peoples of the world, exporting their goods, their culture and their values internationally. Through its products and its company members, Masi and its cultural Foundation, promote Venetian culture and the culture of wine to the whole world.
- Harmony: The Venetian regions are lands of colour, sounds and tastes, recognisable in nature and art, expressed in a particular way of life.
Masi has always interpreted these characteristics of its homeland faithfully and marries tradition with innovation to transform the products of the vine into products for life.
LANDS OF WINE
The Venetian territories have always been well suited to viticulture, thanks to the ample presence of historically recognised terroir sites.
Masi began acquiring such sites at the end of the 18th century with the purchase of the eponymously-named vineyard, and has continued to select the best foothill and hillside sites for its vineyards ever since. The first purchases were in Valpolicella Classica then in other classic Veronese zones, after that eastwards in Friuli, and north-west in Trentino. The latest purchases, as a result of finding suitable growing conditions in Argentina, have been in the Tupungato Valley.
- Cru: Masi has been a pioneer in Italy of the concept of cru, or "single vineyard" wines, made from grapes picked in the individual vineyard location that gives the wines their name, since the 1950s.
Historical and pedoclimatic research has formed the basis for vineyard selection by Masi staff since the purchase of the Campolongo di Torbe vineyard in1958, followed by Mezzanella, Mazzano, Vaio Armaron and others.
- Estates: Masi manages top class vineyards both in the original specialised vineyard area of the Valpolicella Classica district and in the macro region of "Le Venezie", the Venetian territories as a whole.
An ambitious project has been started to rediscover the lustre of winemaking as practiced by the nobility in the Triveneto area, who are so indissolubly linked with the land and who once were so steeped in the traditions of winemaking at the time of the Serenissima Republic of Venice. The first collaboration with a noble house began with the Counts Serego Alighieri, direct descendants of the poet Dante, in 1973. There followed the link-up with the Counts Bossi Fedrigotti in the Trentino region in 2007.
In the Grave del Friuli region, Masi's Stra' del Milione estate comprises extensive vineyard holdings and is a prime example of modern viticulture orientated towards quality and the environment.
Confident in its unique winemaking heritage, Masi has undertaken pioneering research into winemaking in various areas of the New World, and has found the ideal situation in Argentina's Tupungato Valley for its winemaking project summed up in the motto "Argentinean soul, Venetian style".
- Vineyards: There is ample evidence that viticulture has extremely ancient origins in the Verona district, and especially in the hills north of the city. The modern tradition of viticulture began in Roman times when vine-growers used their knowledge of the terroir of the area to make the first historically recorded wine. Called "Retico", this wine was the father of today's Amarone and Recioto.
The historic areas of production where Masi has traditionally selected its best hillside vineyard sites are to be found in the amphitheatre of land to the north of Verona and south of the Alps. Vineyards here benefit from a particularly mild climate, thanks to the protection afforded by the Lessini mountains and the Dolomites, as well as the beneficial influences of Lake Garda. The historic vineyard areas around Verona are Valpolicella Classica, Bardolino Classico and Soave Classico. Here ideal climates and locations combine with native grapes that are unique in the world's winemaking inheritance: Corvina, Rondinella, Molinara, Garganega, Trebbiano di Soave and Oseleta.
TECHNICAL GROUP
The Masi Technical Group (MTG) was created in the mid-1980s with the innovative idea of forming a team of experts dedicated to programmes of quality control and research through regular meetings, tastings, technical analysis and experimentation. The high quality of Masi wines, famous the world over, is due to the Group's intense in-house work on quality control and consultation.
- The team: The Masi Technical Group employs a new approach to working in the winery, substituting the figure of the winemaker with that of teamwork by a group of experts in all the disciplines that together contribute to the production of great wines.
The Group comprises not just an expert oenologist, but also experts in the fields of agronomy, marketing, chemical analysis (for quality control) and foodstuffs (for the packaging). Nothing is left to chance and all aspects have their own experts. Masi wines are the fruit of a perfect balance of people, nature, technique and territory.
- Appassimento: Grape Appassimento is the traditional method used in the Venetian regions to concentrate aromas and tastes in wine. The grapes are laid out on bamboo racks in drying lofts for the winter period before vinification. This is an ancient technique, in operation for centuries in the area, the art of which has been passed down the Boscaini family and employed in an innovative fashion by the Masi Technical Group to make modern wines from semi-dried grapes, above all, Amarone.
The Appaxximento symbol on their bottles proclaims Masi's expertise in Appassimento in the XXI century and guarantees the authenticity and quality of their wines.
- Native grapes: The primary objective of the Masi Technical Group is the re-evaluation and modernisation of the grape varieties and winemaking techniques native to the Venetian regions.
Masi uses the principal, emblematic, native grape varieties for the various zones of the Venetian regions: Corvina, Rondinella, Molinara and Garganega in the Verona area; Teroldego in Trentino; Pinot Grigio, Refosco and Verduzzo in Friuli.
Experimental projects run by Masi Technical Group have also evaluated the use of secondary varieties, such as Oseleta, Croatina, Negrara, Forsellina and Durella. Masi also uses long-established international grapes, such as Cabernet, Merlot and Carmenère.
STRATEGIC LOCATIONS
- Experimental vineyard: On a piece of land belonging to the ancient Serego Alighieri estates, the MTG has set up the first living experimental vineyard dedicated to conservation and varietal comparison using clones of vines that are native to the Venetian regions. 48 different varieties have been planted in sufficient quantity to make micro-vinifications feasible. The experimental project is being carried out with assistance from Prof. Attilio Scienza's Department of Viticulture and Oenology at University of Milan, and the Rauscedo Co-operative Nurseries.
- Experimental winery: The Technical Group, in collaboration with the Department of Viticulture and Oenology at University of Milan, has launched an experimental project for the vinification of native grapes and the maturation of the wines they produce. The project is carried out with the aid of an experimental winery equipped with avant-garde technology.
The specific theme studied in current research is the use of modern biotechnologies and their different applications in winemaking. The whole project is officially recognised by the Ministry of Instruction, Universities and Research.
- Appassimento NASA: NASA (Natural Appassimento Super Assisted) is the name of the innovative assisted natural Appassimento system created by Masi at the Gargagnago drying lofts. Through the ability to control parameters such as temperature, humidity, ventilation, and weight variations, this system ensures ideal Appassimento conditions for the grapes, avoiding the risk of mould and recreating the climatic conditions of the past that are known to have applied in the best vintages.
- Laboratory: Masi has a dedicated laboratory for the modern and efficient analysis needed for quality control, providing fast and accurate replies to the numerous essential checks required by the wineries and their bottling departments.
A special IT system allows the real time collection and processing of analysis coming from external laboratories, such as the one used by Unione Italiana Vini (UIV), and data drawn from in-company sources. As well as running checks on wine and musts, the laboratory also checks all packaging materials, especially those that come into actual contact with the wine: the corks, closures and bottles so essential for maintaining the quality of our wines.
WINE TASTING
Masi Bonacosta - Valpolicella Classico DOC
One of the classics of the great Veronese tradition, made by Masi in a contemporary style.
Valpolicella Classico, praised by Hemingway as "a light, dry red wine, as friendly as the house of a favourite brother", is made here in an elegant style full of simplicity and freshness.
Made in the Valpolicella Classica region from a blend using the traditional Veronese grapes: Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara.
The "Verona classics" range also includes frescaripa bardolino and levaríe soave classico.
Grape Varieties: Corvina, Rondinella, Molinara
Masi Brolo Campofiorin Oro - Rosso del Veronese IGT
Dry, rich, velvety, complex and elegant.
Made in the same approachable style as Campofiorin, of which this is a cuvée version, using the original production method inspired by the technique employed for Amarone.
Given extra complexity with the addition to the blend of the special Oseleta grape, rediscovered by Masi, ageing in small oak casks accentuates its international style.
Grape Varieties Corvina, Rondinella, Oseleta
Masi Costasera - Amarone della Valpolicella Classico DOCG
Proud, majestic, complex and exuberant: this is Masi's gentle giant. A benchmark for the Amarone category, which, together with Barolo and Brunello, makes up the aristocracy of the Italian wine world.
The product of Masi's unrivalled expertise in the appassimento technique, whereby traditional grapes for the Valpolicella Classica area - Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara - are laid out on bamboo racks to concentrate their aromas during the winter months.
Grape Varieties Corvina, Rondinella, Molinara