Cantina La Bacheta, Custoza, Verona
This is Gnocchi, Giorgia Quintarelli and Simone Gradizzi's excellent vineyard dog
Interview with La Bacheta (Feb. 2nd)
Our Q1 2026 newsletter features Cantina La Bacheta, who is Giorgia Quintarelli and her partner Simone Gradizzi (and their Lessinia Shepherd dog Gnocchi). La Bacheta is in Custoza, Verona, and is so called for a family nickname. Baccho was Giorgia’s great grandfather’s nickname. They don’t know if it’s because he drank a lot of wine like Bacchus or because he had silkworms, the name for which in the local dialect sounds like Baccho. Regardless, Giorgia’s mother inherited the nickname hence La Bacheta. Historically, there are far more growers in Custoza than wineries, so a lot of people are selling grapes. Giorgia’s mom planted the vines in 2003 and Giorgia spent her childhood helping out in the vines, which she loved but also spent time pursuing other hobbies and studies. She spent one year (2020) in Châteuneuf-du-Pape studying winemaking from Françoise Roumieux at Clos du Calvaire. There, Giorgia says she learned a great deal. It gave her a lot of knowledge and discipline, but also a sense of pride for being a farmer and vigneron.
After France, to continue her studies, Giorgia spent time in Valpolicella at Ugolini, which is where she met Simone, who had already been working there for two years. They started La Bacheta in 2021, which was their first vintage, with grapes just from the Gorgo parcel (named after the gurgling sound of the many brooks intersecting the property) that her mother planted. Each year they have acquired more vines around the property and now have three parcels amounting to about 3.5 hectares. The old vine parcel is called Tamborino Sardo, after a young Sardinian soldier from the second Italian war of independence (1859) who ran many miles with his tambourine to warn of incoming enemies.
Giorgia and Simone share a winemaking philosophy: “the ability to observe is as important as the ability to know.” Each of their parcels has different exposition and terroir, though the majority is moraine: sand and stone. This changes how the seasons and climate affects each and Giorgia and Simone find that they make game time decisions based on weather. Because they believe in “just the grapes,” the duo practices high standards for diligent observation and hygiene. To the degree that they had to wait for each grape to dry off after harvest before pressing in one instance and accomplished this by diligently checking on them.
I asked about favorite producers and influences to their winemaking and their response was:
“Speaking of winemaking influences, this is a very broad and interesting topic. As we were saying, Simone and I have had two different paths. However, one thing unites them, and that is the great rigor required to make wine in general. This ties in with our preferences as winemakers. We have great respect for all our colleagues who work with the land. On the other hand, we have been influenced by the people we have met along the way, such as Françoise and Arthur in Châteauneuf for me, Princess Corialia Pignatelli della Leonessa in Chianti for Simone, and Dante, the master cellarman in Rovereto…After that come personal tastes and perceptions, what you taste and what it tells you about a particular wine.”
Be well,
Selection Massale
p.s. the song from the La Bacheta website to which I was referring is
Rino Gaetano- Tu, forse non essenzialmente tu
Interview with La Bacheta (Feb. 2nd)
Our Q1 2026 newsletter features Cantina La Bacheta, who is Giorgia Quintarelli and her partner Simone Gradizzi (and their Lessinia Shepherd dog Gnocchi). La Bacheta is in Custoza, Verona, and is so called for a family nickname. Baccho was Giorgia’s great grandfather’s nickname. They don’t know if it’s because he drank a lot of wine like Bacchus or because he had silkworms, the name for which in the local dialect sounds like Baccho. Regardless, Giorgia’s mother inherited the nickname hence La Bacheta. Historically, there are far more growers in Custoza than wineries, so a lot of people are selling grapes. Giorgia’s mom planted the vines in 2003 and Giorgia spent her childhood helping out in the vines, which she loved but also spent time pursuing other hobbies and studies. She spent one year (2020) in Châteuneuf-du-Pape studying winemaking from Françoise Roumieux at Clos du Calvaire. There, Giorgia says she learned a great deal. It gave her a lot of knowledge and discipline, but also a sense of pride for being a farmer and vigneron.
After France, to continue her studies, Giorgia spent time in Valpolicella at Ugolini, which is where she met Simone, who had already been working there for two years. They started La Bacheta in 2021, which was their first vintage, with grapes just from the Gorgo parcel (named after the gurgling sound of the many brooks intersecting the property) that her mother planted. Each year they have acquired more vines around the property and now have three parcels amounting to about 3.5 hectares. The old vine parcel is called Tamborino Sardo, after a young Sardinian soldier from the second Italian war of independence (1859) who ran many miles with his tambourine to warn of incoming enemies.
Giorgia and Simone share a winemaking philosophy: “the ability to observe is as important as the ability to know.” Each of their parcels has different exposition and terroir, though the majority is moraine: sand and stone. This changes how the seasons and climate affects each and Giorgia and Simone find that they make game time decisions based on weather. Because they believe in “just the grapes,” the duo practices high standards for diligent observation and hygiene. To the degree that they had to wait for each grape to dry off after harvest before pressing in one instance and accomplished this by diligently checking on them.
I asked about favorite producers and influences to their winemaking and their response was:
“Speaking of winemaking influences, this is a very broad and interesting topic. As we were saying, Simone and I have had two different paths. However, one thing unites them, and that is the great rigor required to make wine in general. This ties in with our preferences as winemakers. We have great respect for all our colleagues who work with the land. On the other hand, we have been influenced by the people we have met along the way, such as Françoise and Arthur in Châteauneuf for me, Princess Corialia Pignatelli della Leonessa in Chianti for Simone, and Dante, the master cellarman in Rovereto…After that come personal tastes and perceptions, what you taste and what it tells you about a particular wine.”
Be well,
Selection Massale
p.s. the song from the La Bacheta website to which I was referring is
Rino Gaetano- Tu, forse non essenzialmente tu