Why it matters
The producer
Le Battistelle farms 14 hectares of Garganega on the steep volcanic slopes of Brognoligo, a quiet fraction of Monteforte d'Alpone inside the Soave Classico DOCG. The parcels are too steep for machinery, hand-harvested on terraces held in place by dry-stone walls, and carry the CERVIM heroic viticulture designation given to vineyards whose gradient and fragmentation leave mechanical work impossible. The estate produces nothing but Garganega: every cuvée, every vintage, drawn from the same variety on the same volcanic ground.
Gelmino and Cristina Dal Bosco founded Le Battistelle in 2002, ending a long arrangement of selling the family's harvested grapes to a local cooperative and choosing instead to vinify and bottle under their own name. Their children Andrea and Gloria now manage the vineyard and cellar alongside the founding couple. Four people, one grape, one DOCG.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Soave Classico is the original, tightly defined heart of the broader Soave zone in the Veneto, east of Verona. The DOCG designation covers the historic villages where Garganega has grown on volcanic soil for centuries, and the Classico distinction separates these hillside parcels from the flatter, extended Soave DOC territory that expanded through the latter half of the twentieth century.
Brognoligo sits within that Classico core. The area has remained largely free of industrial activity, and the volcanic basalt beneath the parcels gives wines a mineral character that flat alluvial ground cannot replicate. Garganega grown on these slopes ripens slowly, retains natural acidity, and builds mid-palate weight. The steepness that earns the heroic viticulture designation also concentrates the fruit: roots dig deep, yields stay low, and the wine carries more than the appellation's reputation for easy, light white.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
The vines are pergola-trained across fragmented parcels on volcanic basalt. Pergola training, traditional in the Veneto, spreads the canopy horizontally above the fruit and provides shade during the hottest weeks of summer, moderating ripening and preserving acidity in Garganega. The steep gradient means every intervention is manual: pruning, canopy management, and harvest all done by hand.
In the cellar, Le Battistelle works with two distinct approaches depending on the cuvée. Roccolo del Durlo is fermented in temperature-controlled steel tanks over approximately 25 days, then left on fine lees with regular batonnage for approximately eight months. The lees contact adds texture and a slight broadening of the mid-palate without adding oak or weight; the steel preserves the aromatic freshness. I Rasoli takes a different route: aged in terracotta amphora rather than steel, a choice that allows slow oxidative exchange without imparting wood flavour, and one that suits the mineral character of the oldest parcels.
Wines to know
The range in view
Le Battistelle makes two Soave Classico wines, both from 100% Garganega.
Soave Classico Roccolo del Durlo is the main-volume wine and the clearest statement of what steel fermentation and lees ageing do with volcanic Garganega. Straw yellow with vivid golden reflections. The nose opens on yellow fruit, peach and apricot, with citrus and a delicate thread of balsamic herb running underneath. The palate is full and enveloping, the balsamic herbal note becoming more pronounced mid-mouth, and the lees contact giving a slight creaminess to the finish. The 2024 vintage shows wildflowers alongside stone fruit and a clear mineral line that runs from the first sip through to the close.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Soave Classico Roccolo del Durlo. Twenty-five days of fermentation in steel, eight months on fine lees with regular batonnage: that process builds a white wine with real mid-palate weight and an aromatic range that moves from stone fruit and citrus to balsamic herb to mineral close. The texture is broader than most Soave Classico at this price, but the acid line keeps the wine from feeling heavy. Start here to understand what volcanic Garganega tastes like when the cellar amplifies rather than masks it.