Silvia and Gianni Benciolini with Andrea - La Pesenata

The La Pesenata Agricultural Company was founded in February 2019: we are four family members, Gianni Benciolini and his wife, and two twenty-year-old grandchildren who have chosen to farm the land with us.

We manage approximately 7 hectares of land, including approximately 4 hectares of vineyards, on the morainic hills of Lake Garda, which have been owned by the Benciolini family since 1868. We farm the land organically (certified), now introducing biodynamic concepts and techniques. We are applying for Demeter biodynamic certification and are part of a group of biodynamic farms in Verona, "Arena Biodinamica," with which we produce our products.

In the vineyard, all work is done by hand, from pruning to trimming, from suckering to defoliation. In the winter, we add natural, humified manure from our biodynamic heap. We try to minimize mechanical interventions in the vineyard. We are considering adopting livestock traction (Comtois horses) for all agricultural practices that allow it. We have two donkeys and two ponies that occasionally graze in the vineyard. We have three D'ouessant dwarf sheep that we use to keep the grass trimmed. We have about 50 chickens that loosen the soil and make it more vibrant. We have bees that increase biodiversity, as well as a company vegetable garden and an orchard that will soon become a food forest. We also manage three hectares of arable land where, in addition to fodder, we produce potatoes, beans, ancient grains, spelt, buckwheat, and other annual crops.

We have renovated the historic 18th-century cellar, where six concrete tanks dating back to the early 1900s are still installed on the walls, and we are restoring them to full use. We harvest the grapes by hand, carefully selecting each individual bunch. In the cellar, we let nature do its work. We aim to produce wine spontaneously and naturally. We do not perform any fining, chemical stabilization, filtration, or temperature control. We then add a small amount of potassium metabisulfite before bottling, while always staying below "our" threshold of 30 mg/l of total sulfur dioxide (the law allows up to 150 mg/l). Our wines are spontaneous, pure, and obtained naturally without any invasive techniques, allowing the product to express its full nature and integrity, faithfully reflecting the terroir and the vintage.