Italy · Daunia & Foggia (northern Apulia)

Riolite Vini

Multi-regional Italian wine consultancy and brand operator run by Matteo Bernabei from Greve in Chianti, with a family wine lineage reaching back to Tuscany in 1837.

The producer

Riolite Vini is not a vineyard. It is a commercial wine consultancy and brand operation run by Matteo Bernabei from an office in Greve in Chianti, the town at the centre of Chianti Classico. The company selects wines from producing areas across Italy, bottles them in their regions of origin using a mobile bottling unit, and sells them under its own labels or under client-owned brands in export markets including Systembolaget in Sweden. Its legal address sits in Abano Terme, Padua province, Veneto, close to the Euganean Hills that give the company its name: riolite is the pale volcanic parent rock of those hills.

Matteo Bernabei carries four generations of Italian wine behind him. The family's documented wine activity begins in Poggibonsi, a Sienese hill town, in 1837, runs through Veneto, and arrives at Riolite Vini through his father Franco Bernabei, who directed Ruffino's technical operations and began consulting for Tuscan wine companies in 1978. Franco founded Enoproject, a formal oenological and viticultural consultancy, in 1993. Matteo studied enology at the University of Florence, joined that work, and built Riolite Vini as a brand development and distribution layer on top of the family's technical base.

Known for

Italian wine selection and brand development across multiple appellations, with confirmed labels in Pinot Grigio delle Venezie DOC and Chianti DOCG

Notable facts

The story

The Office in Greve

When Franco Bernabei and his wife Daniela Rohracher left his position at Ruffino and set up an independent oenological consulting practice, they chose Greve in Chianti as their base. Greve sits at the northern end of Chianti Classico, between Florence and Siena, surrounded by the hill estates that were beginning to attract serious international attention in the late 1970s. Franco had been advising Tuscan wine companies since 1978 and had watched several of them grow from local operations into names known well beyond Italy. In 1993, he incorporated that advisory work as Enoproject, a formal oenological and viticultural consultancy. His son Matteo studied enology in Florence, joined him, and later built Riolite Vini as a brand and distribution operation from that same office in Greve. The address became the family's working centre. It still is.

The Office in Greve

When Franco Bernabei and his wife Daniela Rohracher left his position at Ruffino and set up an independent oenological consulting practice, they chose Greve in Chianti as their base. Greve sits at the northern end of Chianti Classico, between Florence and Siena, surrounded by the hill estates that were beginning to attract serious international attention in the late 1970s. Franco had been advising Tuscan wine companies since 1978 and had watched several of them grow from local operations into names known well beyond Italy. In 1993, he incorporated that advisory work as Enoproject, a formal oenological and viticultural consultancy. His son Matteo studied enology in Florence, joined him, and later built Riolite Vini as a brand and distribution operation from that same office in Greve. The address became the family's working centre. It still is.

From the atlas

Riolite Vini

At A Glance

The Producer

Riolite Vini is not a vineyard. It is a commercial wine consultancy and brand operation run by Matteo Bernabei from an office in Greve in Chianti, the town at the centre of Chianti Classico. The company selects wines from producing areas across Italy, bottles them in their regions of origin using a mobile bottling unit, and sells them under its own labels or under client-owned brands in export markets including Systembolaget in Sweden. Its legal address sits in Abano Terme, in Padua province, Veneto, close to the Euganean Hills that give the company its name.

Matteo Bernabei carries four generations of Italian wine behind him. The family's documented wine activity begins in Poggibonsi, a Sienese hill town in Tuscany, in 1837. The line runs through Veneto, back to Tuscany, and arrives at Riolite Vini through his father Franco Bernabei, who studied viticulture and oenology, directed Ruffino's technical operations, and began consulting for Tuscan wine companies in 1978. Matteo studied enology at the University of Florence, joined Franco's work, and built Riolite Vini from that foundation.

Place

Riolite Vini operates across Italian wine regions rather than from a single appellation. Its operating office in Greve in Chianti places it inside one of Tuscany's most closely watched wine corridors. Its legal headquarters in Abano Terme connect it to the Veneto, a region that contributes the Castel del Lago Pinot Grigio delle Venezie DOC to its confirmed label list. Pinot Grigio delle Venezie DOC draws from a broad interregional zone covering Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, and Trentino-Alto Adige, a designation that allows wide sourcing across northeastern Italy's cooler wine country.

The Chianti DOCG appellation, which covers the Borgo al Pascolo Nuova Generazione, is Tuscany's primary red appellation. It is anchored by Sangiovese and governed by rules that permit a secondary grape of up to ten percent. The specific Chianti sub-zone for this wine has not been confirmed.

Soil And Site

No vineyard-specific soil or site data is confirmed for any Riolite Vini label. The Pinot Grigio delle Venezie DOC draws from northeastern Italy's volcanic and alluvial soils across three regions. The Chianti DOCG zone covers varied Tuscan terrain, from galestro and alberese limestone-clay soils in the hills around Florence and Siena. No contracted grower, parcel name, or elevation has been confirmed for either wine.

Story

The Bernabei family's wine narrative begins far from any label or consultancy. In 1837, a branch of the family was cultivating vines in Poggibonsi, a Tuscan market town between Florence and Siena. The family later moved to Veneto, where Giuseppe Sante Bernabei built a local reputation as a master taster and created bottling and commercialisation facilities that extended the family's reach beyond farming.

Franco Bernabei, Matteo's father, made the decisive professional shift. He studied viticulture and oenology formally, moved to Tuscany to direct Ruffino's technical operations, then left employed work to consult independently. From 1978, he advised Tuscan wine companies that have since become internationally recognised producers. In 1993, Franco founded Enoproject, an oenological and viticultural consultancy that formalised that advisory work. Matteo joined Enoproject after completing his enology degree in Florence, and from that platform built Riolite Vini as a brand development and commercial distribution layer on top of the family's technical base.

The company name comes from rhyolite, the pale volcanic parent rock of the Euganean Hills in Padua province, the territory surrounding the legal headquarters in Abano Terme. The name connects the brand to a specific geological and geographic reality in Veneto while the operating work runs mainly from Chianti.

Vineyards And Cellar

Riolite Vini does not own or directly farm vineyards. Its model is selection and brand operation: wines are sourced from producing areas across Italy, then bottled in their regions of production using the company's mobile bottling centre, which travels throughout the country. A fixed facility provides storage, warehousing, and bottling capacity for wines held on behalf of clients or under Riolite's own labels.

Where cellar detail is confirmed: the Castel del Lago Pinot Grigio delle Venezie is fermented at 16 to 19 degrees Celsius in stainless-steel tanks. That temperature window is chosen to lock in fruit aroma and freshness rather than develop oxidative or reductive character. No fermentation or maturation detail is confirmed for the Chianti DOCG label.

Wines

Three Riolite Vini labels are documented.

Castel del Lago Pinot Grigio delle Venezie DOC is made entirely from Pinot Grigio sourced from the interregional Venezie zone. Cold stainless-steel fermentation at 16 to 19 degrees Celsius gives the wine its orientation: pale in colour, with white peach and pear aromatics, moderate body, and a clean, fruit-forward finish without wood influence. The 2022 vintage was listed by Systembolaget in Sweden; the current release is the 2025.

Borgo al Pascolo Nuova Generazione Chianti DOCG is a Tuscan red blended from 90 percent Sangiovese and 10 percent Merlot. Sangiovese brings cherry fruit, firm acidity, and mid-weight tannin typical of the Chianti zone; the Merlot component softens the frame and adds a riper, rounder note to the mid-palate. No sub-zone within Chianti DOCG has been confirmed, and no oak or maturation detail is available.

Don Franco Primitivo carries the name of Franco Bernabei and is listed on Systembolaget. Primitivo is a thick-skinned red grape grown primarily in Puglia and produces full-bodied, high-alcohol wines with dark fruit and warmth. Sourcing details and production method for this wine have not been confirmed.

In The Glass

The Castel del Lago Pinot Grigio opens with clean fruit aromatics, white peach and light citrus lifted by the cool fermentation temperature. The palate is light to medium-bodied, with gentle freshness and a soft, short finish. There is no oak or phenolic weight; the wine is built for immediate drinking.

The Borgo al Pascolo Chianti reads differently. Sangiovese's natural acidity gives the wine a tart cherry core and a dry, slightly grippy finish. The ten percent Merlot adds plum and a smoother texture without changing the wine's fundamental dryness. The tannins are moderate, the body medium, and the finish carries the savouriness characteristic of Chianti DOCG Sangiovese.

Don Franco Primitivo, given Primitivo's varietal character, would be expected to deliver deep colour, ripe dark fruit, high natural alcohol, and warm, generous body. The grape's thick skin typically yields considerable tannin that softens with age or with the riper fruit profile Puglia's heat encourages.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Borgo al Pascolo Nuova Generazione Chianti DOCG. It is a 90 percent Sangiovese blend from Tuscany's primary red appellation, and it places Riolite Vini's selection approach in the most legible Italian wine context. The cherry fruit is direct, the acidity firm, the tannins moderate, and the Merlot component keeps the whole thing approachable without masking what Sangiovese tastes like in the Chianti zone. It is a food wine, dry and structured, that works alongside pasta, grilled meats, or aged pecorino. The Pinot Grigio is the easier drink; the Chianti is the more informative one.

Anecdote

When Franco Bernabei and his wife Daniela Rohracher decided to leave his position at Ruffino and set up an independent oenological consulting practice, they chose Greve in Chianti as their base. Greve sits at the northern end of Chianti Classico, between Florence and Siena, surrounded by the hill estates that were beginning to attract serious international attention. Franco had been advising Tuscan wine companies since 1978 and had watched several of them grow from local operations into internationally recognised names. In 1993, he incorporated that advisory work as Enoproject, a formal oenological and viticultural consultancy. His son Matteo studied enology in Florence, joined him, and later built Riolite Vini as a brand and distribution operation from that same office in Greve. The address became the family's working centre. It still is.

Final Word

Riolite Vini is a brand operator and consultancy with a genuine family winemaking lineage. It does not grow grapes or control vineyards; it selects wines from Italian producing areas, bottles them in their origin regions, and brings them to export markets under its own or client labels. The Bernabei name connects it to four generations of Italian wine work, from a Tuscan hill farm in 1837 to an independent consulting practice in the heart of Chianti Classico. The wines reflect that commercial model: honest Italian appellations made to a consistent, accessible standard for retail markets.

Sources

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