Costaripa Winery

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Location: Moniga del Garda Brescia. Lombardy, Italy

Located in Moniga del Garda on the shores of Lake Garda Mattia Vezzola Sr. founded Costaripa in 1936. Today the winery is run by his grandson also named Mattia Vezzola who brought his love of Lombardy’s native varietals and combined it with skills he developed while working in Burgundy.

Points of Differentiation

• One of the Northernmost regions with a Mediterranean microclimate
• A focus on native varieties
• Estate Grown, Estate Bottled
• Mattia Vezzola uses his international winemaking experience to craft the wines
• Elegant packaging

The History

In 1936, Mattia Vezzola Sr. fell in love with the well ventilated, sloping morainic vineyards that face Lake Garda. Mattia was so impressed with the area that he decided to purchase a piece of land that had been impeccably cultivated as far back as the late 1800s. In the early 1970s, the estate took the name of Costaripa from the favorable position of the vineyards: in Italian, costa ripa means “steep coastal slope.”

It was only in 1994 that a quality revolution began on the family estate: Mattia’s grandson, the Mattia Vezzola we all know and love, had taken charge of winemaking at Costaripa.

Mattia applied the techniques he learned in Burgundy to reduce yields and use cold maceration and barrique aging on the native Groppello grape. Results were so amazing that Mattia saw his convictions confirmed: by selecting native varieties, lowering crops yields, and employing state-of-the-art technology, Costaripa terroir would yield fantastic wines.

In 2014 Mattia Vezzola decided to begin producing his sparkling wines under the name Mattia Vezzola instead of the winery’s name, Costaripa. This decision represents Mattia’s skill in producing classic-method sparklers and less so the Valtènesi winemaking area Costaripa is named for.

In addition, since there is no appellation associated with this line of sparkling wines, Mattia decided to give the line his name as a guarantee of quality that live up to his personal winemaking standards.

The Terrior

The Garda Classico and Lugana appellations, between Lake Garda and Brescia, form a gently rolling landscape. Geologically, the area goes back to some 70-80 million years ago, when glaciers melted, creating morainic amphitheaters, lakes, and hills. The area is made up of around 60 different kinds of soil, including clay, limestone, and rock, which supply the wines with a wealth of mineral components. Nestled among the hills on the western shore of Lago di Garda is the village of Moniga del Garda.

In the words of Mattia Vezzola, it is “one of the world’s northernmost territories to enjoy a climate that is almost Mediterranean.”

One of Mattia’s top priorities is maximizing local potential with such intriguing indigenous grapes as the elegant Groppello or fragrant Marzemino. Mattia did in-depth research on Groppello which had grown in the area for the past 500 years and took its name from the shape of the tightly knit, conical bunch, with blue, spherical berries. The grape stalk is short so that the berries tend to press against each other which makes ripening difficult. For success, the grape variety needs south/southeastern exposure, and tiny crop yields on mixed gravelly, silty and clayey soil like those at Moniga del Garda. Groppello is high in acidity and low in color and can be complemented by other varieties in local DOCs: Marzemino, Barbera, and Sangiovese.