Why it matters
The producer
Riolite Vini is not a vineyard. It is a commercial wine consultancy and brand operation run by Matteo Bernabei from an office in Greve in Chianti, the town at the centre of Chianti Classico. The company selects wines from producing areas across Italy, bottles them in their regions of origin using a mobile bottling unit, and sells them under its own labels or under client-owned brands in export markets including Systembolaget in Sweden. Its legal address sits in Abano Terme, in Padua province, Veneto, close to the Euganean Hills that give the company its name.
Matteo Bernabei carries four generations of Italian wine behind him. The family's documented wine activity begins in Poggibonsi, a Sienese hill town in Tuscany, in 1837. The line runs through Veneto, back to Tuscany, and arrives at Riolite Vini through his father Franco Bernabei, who studied viticulture and oenology, directed Ruffino's technical operations, and began consulting for Tuscan wine companies in 1978. Matteo studied enology at the University of Florence, joined Franco's work, and built Riolite Vini from that foundation.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Riolite Vini operates across Italian wine regions rather than from a single appellation. Its operating office in Greve in Chianti places it inside one of Tuscany's most closely watched wine corridors. Its legal headquarters in Abano Terme connect it to the Veneto, a region that contributes the Castel del Lago Pinot Grigio delle Venezie DOC to its confirmed label list. Pinot Grigio delle Venezie DOC draws from a broad interregional zone covering Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, and Trentino-Alto Adige, a designation that allows wide sourcing across northeastern Italy's cooler wine country.
The Chianti DOCG appellation, which covers the Borgo al Pascolo Nuova Generazione, is Tuscany's primary red appellation. It is anchored by Sangiovese and governed by rules that permit a secondary grape of up to ten percent. The specific Chianti sub-zone for this wine has not been confirmed.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Riolite Vini does not own or directly farm vineyards. Its model is selection and brand operation: wines are sourced from producing areas across Italy, then bottled in their regions of production using the company's mobile bottling centre, which travels throughout the country. A fixed facility provides storage, warehousing, and bottling capacity for wines held on behalf of clients or under Riolite's own labels.
Where cellar detail is confirmed: the Castel del Lago Pinot Grigio delle Venezie is fermented at 16 to 19 degrees Celsius in stainless-steel tanks. That temperature window is chosen to lock in fruit aroma and freshness rather than develop oxidative or reductive character. No fermentation or maturation detail is confirmed for the Chianti DOCG label.
Wines to know
The range in view
Three Riolite Vini labels are documented.
Castel del Lago Pinot Grigio delle Venezie DOC is made entirely from Pinot Grigio sourced from the interregional Venezie zone. Cold stainless-steel fermentation at 16 to 19 degrees Celsius gives the wine its orientation: pale in colour, with white peach and pear aromatics, moderate body, and a clean, fruit-forward finish without wood influence. The 2022 vintage was listed by Systembolaget in Sweden; the current release is the 2025.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Start with the Borgo al Pascolo Nuova Generazione Chianti DOCG. It is a 90 percent Sangiovese blend from Tuscany's primary red appellation, and it places Riolite Vini's selection approach in the most legible Italian wine context. The cherry fruit is direct, the acidity firm, the tannins moderate, and the Merlot component keeps the whole thing approachable without masking what Sangiovese tastes like in the Chianti zone. It is a food wine, dry and structured, that works alongside pasta, grilled meats, or aged pecorino. The Pinot Grigio is the easier drink; the Chianti is the more informative one.