Private Label Wines

Tasting a top Amarone wine at the PLMA trade fair in Amsterdam this spring is not the norm, but it was possible at the stand of the Italian family company Bennati. The Bennati’s were represented by Dr. Daniela Cellai and Elisa Lucilli from C.T.G. Trambusti Gigliola, a company of four women who have a mission to promote fine Italian wines. Daniela explains Bennati is still a family run business with two brothers Giorgio and Paolo Bennati in the lead, supported by their cousin Claudio. Each year, they produce almost about four million bottles of wine, of which 8,000 to 10,000 are premium range bottles and approximately 100,000 reserve bottles, including some 70,000 bottles of Ripasso. Most of the wines produced are the whites Soave and Pinot Grigio and the red, Valpolicella, in a variety of quality ranges. Valtramigna is the top level with wines that have a strong local identity. Soraighe is the next level from the Bennati area. The more common wines are I Gadi, Cornalè and Feudo Italia.

Only women rule the wine promotions at CTG. “I started to work for CTG twenty years ago”, tells Daniela whose mother already was involved in the company. It’s the aim of CTG to help family-run, Italian business in the wine industry to conduct foreign trade. CTG does so for a number of families spread over Italian wine regions. At the PLMA trade fair in Amsterdam, last June, they especially represented the Bennati family, who runs a winery for the fourth generation.

The Bennati vineyards can be found near the village of Cazzano di Tramigna a half an hour east of Verona in the Veneto region. In 1920, Annibale Bennati officially established the winery Cantine Bennati. His father, Antonio Bennati, born in 1870 was a well know wine maker in the locality. His nickname was Antonio Recioto because he produced and sold the sweet wine Recioto. Back then, sweet wines were more popular than they are today, at least outside Italy. Today, Recioto is more like a dessert wine, and Bennati still has a sweet wine in the assortment with the label 1870. And significantly, it is the basis for the very famous Amarone wines from the Veneto region, but more about that later.

The Bennati wineries are situated not far from the Soave castle, the symbol of this famous region. “We can see the castle from the valley”, says Daniela with pride. “The Bennati brothers took the business over from their father Enzio who was blind later in life and brought him to the winery every day. It reflects the passion of the producers.” Next to the classical wines from the Veneto region the Bennati company also processes grapes from wine farmers west from Verona, close to lake garda, which results in a broader assortment with the red Bardolino and the pink Bardolino Chiaretto.

“Bennati produces different wines from different regions, from different soils”, Daniella tells us. She studied as a geologist, specializing in soils. “The terroir is very important for the grapes”, she emphasizes, “it is more than simply the climate. Certain flavors in grapes can only be found in wine that is related to a specific soil.” On the hills, where Bennati originally produced wine, the soil is medium argile, a mix of calc and sand. “But even in the same valley you can find different soils and taste in grapes.” The most well-known and famous wine from the region around Verona is Amarone. “Bennati is one of the biggest wineries that produces Amarone that still belongs to a family”, says Daniella. “Many wineries that produce Amarone have mostly sold to bigger financial groups in the last twenty years. At Bennati it is still in the family.”

During the interview at the PLMA fair in Amsterdam several visitors pass by the Bennati stand to taste some of the cellar’s wines. It’s lunch time, and without any doubt, Daniella and her colleague Elisa serve the best Bennati wines, not only for business, but rather as a lunch companion. Amarone at lunch time, it’s a pleasure for me too. “If you drink this wine the day after the bottle is opened it is even better”, Daniella says. “Some more air will give it some more balance.” To make Amarone, the grapes (Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara) are dried after the harvest for about six months. In this time the water evaporates and the sugar content of the grapes becomes more concentrated. After the drying process the grapes are pressed and fermented in oak bottles for at least 8 years in the Bennati cellar. “This is why a good Amarone is priced around 50 to 70 euros”, Daniella explains. “The grapes have to be dried, controlled on molds and quality, and it has to be fermented for years in oak barrels.

“Yes, you can find bottles in the supermarkets for twenty euro or less, even for other wines like the Barolo. It is only possible for this price because the grapes are from so called cantine sociale where farmers bring their grapes in big quantity. But the quality of the wines is different, these are normally not a wines for aging. To make an Amarone it costs a lot. You have to select the grapes, on difficult slopes, the work is not easy, then you need a dry room, and time to ferment the wine in (our case) French new oak barrels, and many checks by people, a lot of work force.

“The lower priced wines of Amarone the grapes are more often quickly dried, conditioned, very fast, readymade Amarone, that effects the costs. To achieve complexity, it’s a natural process, it takes time, and after ten years you have a real Amarone. That also counts for a Barolo priced at 10 euros. These Barolos have often a lot of acidity. It really misses the human work and that explains the cheaper price of these wines.”

“The Amarone wines from the Bennati winery are not particular for private label use”, Daniela admits. “We are here for the first time now. But we also produce very good quality wines for affordable prices for private label. We have different lines.” A few years ago Bennati build a new winery, crushing plant, new warehouse and logistics centre to response to all new market requests. “We also have an entry level like the line Cornalè and I Gadi. More premium is Soraighe with more expensive wines, but for entry level we produce for example a good Soave, Pinot Grigio and Valpolicella.”

Hans Kraak is educated in biology and journalism and wrote four books about nutrition and health. He worked for the Dutch ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food quality and the Netherlands Nutrition Centre. As editor in chief he publishes NTVD, a Dutch nutrition magazine, as a food and wine writer he publishes in Meininger’s Wine Business International and reports for PLMA Live EU and PLMA USA.