Most natural-wine origin stories start with inherited vines. Silvia Tezza's starts with land that was about to be paved over, and a young agronomist who decided that would not happen.
Backstory
Silvia finished her studies in agronomy in 2015 and, despite coming from no winemaking family, chose to invest her future in the vineyard, recovering old family land that would otherwise have been built upon. Her uncle Maurizio, a restaurateur and lover of natural wine, gave her the early encouragement. The estate takes its name from the roccolo nearby, the old tower once used to observe and trap birds.
The Region
Il Roccolo di Monticelli lies in Lavagno, in the province of Verona, on the limestone hills between Verona and Soave near the Lessini mountains. The heart of the estate is a small walled clos, formerly owned by a count, sitting at around 180 meters.
Vineyards and Farming
Silvia works roughly four and a half hectares, of which about three are vines. The plantings are entirely local: old Garganega and Trebbiano di Soave, many vines now sixty to seventy-five years old, alongside more recently planted Corvina, with Rondinella and Molinara, plus a parcel of centenary olive trees. She brings only healthy fruit into the cellar so that intervention can be kept to a minimum.
Winemaking
The wines ferment spontaneously, and Silvia adds no sulfites at any stage, with no fining and no filtration. The aim is to let the limestone hillside and the old vines express their structure unaltered.
The Wines
The range includes a Monticelli Bianco and a skin-contact white aged in amphora, along with reds from the local Corvina-based varieties. They are honest, place-driven wines from a small, hand-built estate near Soave.
