“Capomastro” Veneto IGT Rosso

August 4th, 2002 is a date that many of us here at Lake Garda do not like to remember. On this day (precisely… this morning between 1 and 3 a.m.) there was one of the strongest hailstorms in our recent history, and the damage was enormous – not only in the vineyards. 2002 was the year in which the new Rebo and Corvina vines were planted in April on our vineyard “La Prà” in Cavaion Veronese. It was planned to use these grapes for the production of our special red wine “Massimo“. The hail destroyed almost everything, and the young plants were so badly damaged that our owner and winemaker Giancarlo Massimo Lenotti wanted to plant out all the vines again to start over the following year. Our employee Gianni, who has been working in our company for more than 30 years and still organizes our daily work in the vineyards (the leader of a group of workers is called “Capomastro” in Italian), saw another possibility for these damaged plants. Gianni was completely convinced that he could save them and therefore decided to make a bet with Giancarlo Massimo. With the help of all our skilled workers and after 4 years of hard work, Gianni’s courageous decision was rewarded. The reborn vines grew incredibly well. After overcoming these difficulties, the vines produced grapes that were completely different from what we had expected which gave us the opportunity to create a new wine: our unique “Capomastro”. We decided to call this wine Capomastro to honour the passion, the experience and the skills of our “Capomastro” Gianni, who still works in our company. (photo di Gianni?). This story is also reflected on the label of the wine.