i Stefanini - Garganega - Soave, Veneto, IT - 2025

Notes from the Winery/Importer

Previous-vintage notes (copied from the 2024 Inventory entry):

Pleasantly floral and slightly herbal, the 2023 I Stefanini Soave "Il Selese opens" with a bouquet of crushed green apples, candied lime and sweet sage. It's soft and supple with crisp acidity enlivening its lime and sour melon notes. This finishes long and full of tension, leaving notes of tart Granny Smith apple and a salty flourish of minerality. The 2023 possesses a lovely balance within, but I crave a fresher style on the nose.
From the Tessari family of generations of grape growers, this wine is an omaggio to the women who have traditionally worked the vines contributing "the touch" to harvesting the grapes with care and passion.

Notes on the Producer

I Stefanini winery, established in 2003, specializes in steel-aged, aromatic white wines that feature the Garganega grape, an indigenous varietal of the Soave region.

Owned and operated by the Tessari family, the winery was named after distant ancestor Stefano Tessari, whose family began experimenting with agriculture and grape cultivation as far back as 1800.

I Stefanini covers 18 hectares of fertile growing volcanic soil in the coll-climate region of Valle d'Alpone, a Verona river valley rich in fossil deposits on the east end of Soave. Head winemaker and owner Francesco Tessari works with his father, vineyard manager Valentino Tessari. Presently, the techniques of cultivating the vines while respecting the land, and exalting the quality of the product encompass the current agronomic methodology.

The Stefanini wines, in accordance with traditional winemaking techniques of Soave, are not aged in oak barrels, but in carefully lined tanks made of stainless steel.

Francesco Tessari is one of the only producers who has launched the concept of a high quality Soave wine, capable of offering a rich fleshiness without losing its drinkability or fragrance. He effectively controls yields in the vineyard, even for his simplest wines, which is coupled with an intermittent search for maturity, which allows for the production of only the most ambitious labels of the highest quality vintage.

The result is a fresh and fruity wine, which continues to gain top scores in all major wine guides and current reviews.

Grapes & Style

Garganega

Garganega is the main white grape of Soave in Italy’s Veneto region. It’s a subtle variety, but in the right volcanic or limestone sites it can make whites with real texture, mineral tension, and quiet complexity.

In the vineyard, Garganega ripens relatively late and can be productive, so quality depends on good sites and careful yields. Traditional pergola-trained vineyards and older vines can produce wines with more concentration while preserving freshness.

In the glass, Garganega often shows lemon, pear, yellow apple, chamomile, almond, white flowers, and a lightly savory or volcanic edge. The best Soave is not loud, but it’s graceful and persistent, with a gentle almond finish and a strong affinity for food.