Italy · Valpolicella & Bardolino (Verona hills)

Guerrieri Rizzardi

A Veronese estate with roots in 1649, Guerrieri Rizzardi farms its own vineyards in four Classico appellations and vinifies at cellars within each zone. The range runs from Bardolino and Soave through Ripasso to Amarone.

The producer

Guerrieri Rizzardi holds a position few Veneto estates can claim: vineyards and working cellars in four of the region's Classico appellations, all farmed with the producer's own grapes. The estate spans Bardolino on the eastern shore of Lake Garda, Valpolicella in the hills northwest of Verona, Soave on volcanic ground to the east, and Valdadige along the river valley. Each zone has its own cellar. No grapes are bought in.

The oldest of those cellars is at Pojega in the Valpolicella village of Negrar, purchased by Carlo Rizzardi in 1649. The family first bottled wine under their own label in 1678. In 1913 the Rizzardi merged with the Guerrieri family, Counts of Bardolino, whose land investments along the lake dated to the early seventeenth century. The administrative hub moved to Strada Campazzi in Bardolino in 2010, but Pojega remains the Valpolicella heart: an active cellar on the same ground it has occupied for over three and a half centuries.

Known for

Amarone della Valpolicella Calcarole; Valpolicella Ripasso Pojega; Ferra Soave Classico (exceptional vintages only)

Notable facts

The story

The Garden at Pojega

In 1783, Antonio Rizzardi hired the Veronese landscape architect Luigi Trezza to lay out a formal garden at Pojega in Negrar. Trezza was 31 at the time and would go on to redesign central Verona. What he built for Antonio was a baroque theatrical garden on working vineyard land: clipped hedges, a staged hillside, an amphitheatre of green cut into the Valpolicella countryside. The garden cost money and time that could have gone into vines, but Antonio wanted it, and Trezza drew it. The wine kept being made. The cellar that Carlo Rizzardi had purchased on the same Pojega property in 1649 continued operating. Today the garden still stands on the estate, the architect's drawings still describe it in Veronese archives, and the cellar below it still ferments and ages Valpolicella and Amarone.

From the atlas

Guerrieri Rizzardi

At A Glance

Producer: Guerrieri Rizzardi Country: Italy Region: Veneto Appellations: Bardolino, Valpolicella, Soave Classico, Valdadige Grapes: Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Barbera, Sangiovese, Garganega Key Bottles: Amarone Calcarole, Ripasso Pojega, Ferra Soave Classico, Delara Montebaldo Bardolino

The Producer

Guerrieri Rizzardi holds a position that very few Veneto estates can claim: vineyards and working cellars in four of the region's Classico appellations, all farmed with the producer's own grapes. The estate spans Bardolino on the eastern shore of Lake Garda, Valpolicella in the hills northwest of Verona, Soave on volcanic ground to the east, and Valdadige along the river valley that links them. Each zone has its own cellar. No grapes are bought in.

The oldest of those cellars is at Pojega in the Valpolicella village of Negrar, purchased by Carlo Rizzardi in 1649. The Rizzardi family first bottled wine under their own label in 1678. In 1913 they merged with the Guerrieri family, Counts of Bardolino, whose land investments along the lake and in Valdadige dated to the early seventeenth century. The administrative and production hub moved to Strada Campazzi in Bardolino in 2010, with a wine shop opening there in 2012, but Pojega remains the Valpolicella heart: an active cellar on the same ground it has occupied for over three and a half centuries.

The range covers the full arc of Veronese wine, from the light Corvina reds of Bardolino to the dried-grape weight of Amarone.

Place

The four Classico appellations cluster around Verona but face different directions and grow on different ground. Bardolino sits on glacial and alluvial soils on the Garda moraine, producing lighter reds from Corvina and Rondinella where cool lake breezes keep acidity high. Valpolicella occupies a series of valleys running north into the Lessini foothills, with calcareous and volcanic soils at Negrar giving good depth to Corvina-based wines. Soave lies east of Verona on the Monte Lessini volcanic belt, where basalt and volcanic tuff favour Garganega, keeping wines mineral and aromatic even in warm years. Valdadige follows the Adige river north toward Trentino.

For the label, the consequence of this geography is direct: Bardolino wines carry the appellation as a guarantee of the lighter, lake-influenced style; Valpolicella Classico Superiore and its Ripasso cousin sit in the middle of the range; Amarone, made from dried Corvina grapes at Pojega, sits at the top. The Soave Ferra, from a single south-facing volcanic plot near the Castle of Soave, steps outside the red wine arc entirely.

Soil And Site

Pojega in Negrar covers 25 hectares on volcanic and calcareous soils in the Classico zone. The volcanic component is basalt-rich, retaining heat and shaping the dark fruit concentration in Valpolicella and Amarone from this estate. Calcareous layers add drainage and keep acidity present through the growing season.

The Soave estate sits near the Castle of Soave on volcanic tuff, where old Garganega vines on south-facing slopes accumulate aromatic complexity while maintaining a firm acid line. The Bardolino hillside at Strada Campazzi is on moraine-derived soils, lighter in texture, which encourages the Corvina grape to ripen without excess weight.

Story

The two families that became Guerrieri Rizzardi each arrived in Verona's wine country from a different direction. The Guerrieri counts were Veronese professionals who began buying land in Valdadige and toward Lake Garda in the early 1600s. Count Vincenzo Guerrieri developed the wine and olive business inland around Bardolino after his marriage to Teresa Rambaldi in 1791. The Rizzardi side arrived in Valpolicella from Toscolano Maderno on Lake Garda: Carlo Rizzardi purchased his Negrar property with cellar and vineyard in 1649, and the family had wine under their own label by 1678.

The two estates operated separately for more than two centuries before the 1913 union created a single producer with holdings in each Classico zone and the first combined vintage in 1914. The merger did not consolidate production to a single site. Each cellar kept its role within its appellation, with vinification taking place where the grapes grow.

In 2010 the administrative centre moved to Bardolino. The Pojega cellar in Negrar, along with its baroque garden laid out in 1783, remained an active production facility.

Vineyards And Cellar

Guerrieri Rizzardi picks all fruit by hand across all four appellations. In Valpolicella and for Amarone, hand-sorting follows harvest, and the dried-grape process that defines Amarone begins immediately after picking: the Corvina-dominant blend is laid out to dry, concentrating sugar, colour, and fruit intensity before fermentation. Amarone Calcarole then ferments slowly over one month, with malolactic fermentation carried out in oak. Barrel ageing runs 12 months in small 5-hectolitre oak casks, then a further 24 months in larger 25-hectolitre barrels, 36 months in wood before release.

The Ripasso Pojega takes a different cellar route. After hand-picking and a 10-day fermentation and maceration, the base Valpolicella wine is re-fermented over the pressed skins left from Amarone production. This second contact with Amarone pomace adds body, dark fruit concentration, and a degree of the dried-grape character without the full weight of Amarone. After the ripasso step, the wine ages 12 months in French oak barrels.

The Ferra Soave spends six months in large oak foudres after fermentation, absorbing a very light wood influence while the volcanic mineral character of the Garganega settles and develops.

Wines

The range runs across four appellations and four distinct styles. At the lightest end, the Delara Montebaldo Bardolino is Corvina and Rondinella aged in stainless steel without oak: a pale, unoaked red with cherry fruit, light spice, silky tannins, and a mineral edge from the glacial Garda soils. It is the least demanding bottle in the range and the most direct expression of Bardolino's lake-cooled character.

The Ferra Soave Classico is 100% Garganega from the single volcanic-soil vineyard near the Castle of Soave, made only in exceptional vintages. Six months in large oak foudres give a very light wood note; the dominant character is aromatic and mineral, with jasmine, green herbs, mango, and pear, underscored by the lifted acidity that volcanic Garganega carries naturally.

The Ripasso Pojega moves into darker territory: 45% Corvina, 45% Corvinone, 5% Merlot, and 5% Rondinella, re-fermented over Amarone skins and aged 12 months in French oak. The result carries depth and dark fruit concentration alongside freshness, with subtle sweet spices from the oak and the dried-grape contact.

Amarone Calcarole is 70% Corvina, 10% Rondinella, 10% Barbera, 7% Sangiovese, and 3% Corvinone. Thirty-six months of barrel ageing in a two-stage oak programme gives the wine its weight and integration. Dark berried fruit, dried fig, and the grip of extended maceration mark the profile, with enough freshness to prevent the concentration from closing down.

In The Glass

Across the range, Corvina's natural acidity keeps wines from heaviness even at the dried-grape end. The Bardolino opens with pale cherry and a light mineral lift, finishing short and clean. The Ferra Soave pours pale gold and carries jasmine and green herb from the nose through to the mid-palate, with mango and pear arriving mid-mouth and a firm acid line on the finish that reflects the volcanic ground.

The Ripasso Pojega shows dark cherry and plum on the nose, a texture notably richer than the Bardolino, and the sweet spice that comes from French oak and the second skin contact. The mouth-feel is rounded, with enough acidity to keep the fruit alive through a medium finish.

Amarone Calcarole is the fullest wine in the range, and its barrel programme shapes it clearly. The nose carries dark fruit, dried fig, and baking spice. In the mouth the wine is concentrated and firm, with the slow-fermentation and multi-year oak programme showing in the way the tannins sit: dense but resolved, with a warm, long finish. Freshness is present but the wine needs time for the weight and the fruit to settle into balance.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Ripasso Pojega. It is re-fermented over Amarone skins and aged 12 months in French oak. The re-fermentation step adds dark fruit concentration and body without the full dried-grape weight of Amarone, making the wine richer and more serious than a base Valpolicella while remaining approachable on release. Dark cherry, plum, sweet spice, a rounded texture, and a fresh finish. Its re-fermentation uses the pressed skins left from Amarone production. Once you know that, the Amarone Calcarole makes sense as the next step rather than a different category entirely.

Anecdote

In 1783, Antonio Rizzardi hired the Veronese landscape architect Luigi Trezza to lay out a formal garden at Pojega in Negrar. Trezza was 31 at the time and would go on to redesign central Verona. What he built for Antonio was a baroque theatrical garden on working vineyard land: clipped hedges, a staged hillside, an amphitheatre of green cut into the Valpolicella countryside. The garden cost money and time that could have gone into vines, but Antonio wanted it, and Trezza drew it. The wine kept being made. The cellar that Carlo Rizzardi had purchased on the same Pojega property in 1649 continued operating. Today the garden still stands on the estate, the architect's drawings still describe it in Veronese archives, and the cellar below it still ferments and ages Valpolicella and Amarone.

Final Word

Guerrieri Rizzardi is one of a small number of Veneto producers farming its own vineyards across all four Classico zones simultaneously. The range is coherent because the terroir logic is coherent: lighter Corvina reds at the lake, concentrated dried-grape Amarone in the Valpolicella hills, volcanic Garganega in Soave. The Ripasso Pojega is the clearest entry into that logic. The Ferra Soave, made only when the vintage allows it, is the most distinctive single bottle for anyone curious about what Garganega tastes like when it has old volcanic vines beneath it.

Sources

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