Quistello Canteen

List of awards and diplomas awarded to the Cantina di Quistello •Gilbert & Gaillard - International Competition - Gold medal for Gran Rosso del Vicariato di Quistello•Gilbert & Gaillard - International Competition - Silver medal for 80 Vendemmie Rosso•Decanter World Wine Awards - Silver medal for 1.6 Armonia •Decanter World Wine Awards - Silver medal for Gran Rosso del Vicariato di Quistello•Bubble's Magazine - Ambassador of the Italian toast 2020 for 1.6 Armonia•La Guida del Bere Rosa - Classification certificate with a score between 92 and 100 for 80 Vendemmie Rosato•La Guida del Bere Rosa - Classification certificate with a score between 85 and 91 for Lambrusco Mantovano Rosato•Wine Channel - Recognition of Best Italian Wine Selection for 80 Vendemmie Rosso•Onav Verona - Interregional Sparkling Wine Festival - Selected by Onav Verona Spumante Metodo Classico 1.6 Armonia •Onav Verona - Interregional Sparkling Wine Festival - Selected by Onav Verona 80 Vendemmie Rosso •Onav Verona - Interregional Sparkling Wine Festival - Selected by Onav Verona Bianco di Quistello •Onav Verona - Interregional Sparkling Wine Festival - Selected by Onav Verona Dolce del Vicariato di Quistello •Onav Verona - Interregional Sparkling Wine Festival - Selected by Onav Verona Gran Bianco di Quistello •Onav Verona - Interregional Sparkling Wine Festival - Selected by Onav Verona Gran Rosso del Vicariato di Quistello •Onav Verona - Interregional Sparkling Wine Festival - Selected by Onav Verona Lambrusco Mantovano Rossissimo•Matilde Di Canossa Wine Competition - Diploma of merit to Gran Rosso del Vicariato di Quistello •Gran Prix - International Grand Prix of Catering - Diploma of value to the Cantina di Quistello •Golosaria - Recognition to the Cantina di Quistello for having been able to draw inspiration from tradition for contemporaneity by introducing aspects of innovation •Quality Award Italy - National Wine Competition - Diploma of mention for Lambrusco Mantovano Dop Rossissimo •Alma Wine Academy - International cooking school, the first point of reference in Italy and in the world for the training of professionals in Italian cuisine and food and wine - Supplier of wines for the “Cantina Didattica” of “Alma Wine Academy” •Gambero Rosso - “Due Bicchieri” from Gambero Rosso •Golosaria - “Top Hundred” from Golosaria for the Gran Rosso del Vicariato di Quistello •Guida Bere Bene - “Oscar Qualità / Prezzo” from Bere Bene •Guida L'Espresso - “Best Lambrusco wines from Mantua” from Guida de L'Espresso Vini d'Italia for 80 Harvests, Gran Rosso del Vicariato di Quistello and Lambrusco Mantovano •Slow Food Guide - Wines reported Gran Rosso del Vicariato di Quistello and Lambrusco Mantovano Rosato•Viniplus Lombardia Guide - “Two Camune Stars” for Lambrusco Mantovano Rosato

The Cantina Sociale di Quistello was founded in 1928. 85 years have passed since a group of winemakers founded it. However, we like to think that our winery has its roots in a much older history. A history made up of farmers as well as poets. A history that harks back to times long gone! The production area of Lambrusco Mantovano is in fact an area with very ancient winemaking and gastronomic traditions and to find the first traces of “Labrusca” or “Lambrusca”, as the vineyards from which our wine derives were initially called, it is necessary to look to the past. A few kilometers southeast of Mantua, for example, stands an important Etruscan settlement from the 6th-4th century BC: the Forcello Archaeological Park. Forcello, which is located in the municipality of Bagnolo San Vito, has returned a truly exceptional wealth and variety of finds. And among these there was no shortage of very precious amphorae for transporting wine. These findings support the theory that local wine was exported for a long time. The Adriatic sea route that, coming from the Aegean, exploited the ports of Adria and Spina, allowed the Po Valley to be reached quite easily, through the river routes. The “Labrusca” was known not only by the Etruscans but also by the Romans. Some precise references by Latin writers in their works can be considered, in this sense, precious documents, on the presence of this vine and on how it was also known by the Roman population. For example, the citation of “Vitis Labrusca” in the fifth Bucolic of the Mantuan poet Virgil dates back almost 2000 years ago and was evidently a precious and direct witness to the presence of the Lambrusco vine in the Mantuan territory! To this day it is not possible to trace precisely when the cultivation of the Labrusca vine was taken into consideration in the way it is conceived today! Certainly the cultivation of the vine takes on a fundamental value at the end of the 11th century with the Benedictine monks in the territories of the Polirone Abbey in San Benedetto Po. The monks established the payment of an annual tribute (the preménda) to the tenants. The economist Ugo Ruberti made known how the farmers used the grapes from the Lambrusco vineyards to ensure a high quality wine much appreciated by the monks for its taste, aroma and also its intense color. (In fact, Pliny the Elder in the Naturalis Historia already wrote "... the vitis vinifera whose leaves, like those of the Labrusca vine, become blood red before falling...") Ugo Ruberti, a scholar from Quistello, an expert in agriculture and viticulture, is responsible for the discovery of the native Grappello Ruberti vineyard. Historical evidence of this vine has been present since the early 1900s, when the famous ampelographer Dal Masso declared at a conference in 1939 that for a very long time the Grappello Ruberti had been the only vine cultivated in this area. In 2013 the Ministry of Agriculture officially recognized the Grappello Ruberti as a vine whose native grape "is widespread especially in the Oltrepò Mantovano and in particular in the area of the Cantina sociale di Quistello"! What we have simply told you is only a part of a truly evocative story that spans centuries, populations and territories! It is the story of a wine that we love and to which we dedicate our work with commitment and passion, aware of the privilege we have in carrying on this story that is as long as it is special.