Azienda Agricola Casello Bondoni

The Casello Bondoni Winery

Located between the towns of Desenzano and Sirmione, aims to produce wine with the best care and precision possible in our times, while maintaining the rustic charm of tradition. It consists of the cellar, family members’ homes, a workshop and warehouses; the planted area (25 hectares) gives rise to the cultivation of grapes such as Trebbiano di Lugana (known also as Turbiana), Marzemino, Cabernet, Merlot and Chardonnay. Here are produced traditional wines such as Lugana, Marzemino (Trepiò) and Rosé (Rosaspina), but also pleasantly fresh wines such as Rocheta, Brut and Brut Rosé.

A little bit of history

After the battle of San Martino and Solferino on 24 June 1859, which ended the Second Italian War of Independence, a milestone in the unification of Italy, Lombardy was annexed to the Kingdom of Piedmont, while Veneto remained in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Between the borders of the two states (Zona Franca), there was a building defined as “la casetta”(“the little house”). From 1859 to 1865 it was the residence of customs guards, with surveillance duties between the two borders and from which it took the name of “Casello” (“Frontier Guard Post”). Later it was inhabited by the Bondoni family from which it took its last name. In 1914 it was bought by Michelangelo Tomasi, a breeder and wine-lover from the mountains of Vicenza. Subsequently (1931) the farm passed to his son Giovan Maria, a pious man, passionate breeder of dairy cows, under whom the drainage work continued intensively. In the early 60’s his son Marco succedeed his father, focusing with passion and dedication on the cultivation of the vine, on the production and on the sale of wine in demijohn, according to tradition. Since the 90’s his son Gaetano continues the family business, as proud owner and wine-maker of Casello Bondoni.

Towards the 80’s management was handed over to the next generation led by son Gaetano. To date the company is run and owned by the same family.

Territory

In one of the most beautiful tourist spots of northern Italy, a crossroad of olive groves and vineyards, wineries and bright colors, fragrances and flavors, it would be difficult now to believe that the ancient “Lucan” (whose etymology could be derived from the Latin lucus, forest) was originally a wild and marshy, swampy scrubland that only a brisk secular job logging, certificate from the fifteenth century, would seek to reclaim. Nestling in the magical quadrilateral between the towns of Lake Garda which has its apex Sirmione and Pozzolengo,vertical and horizontal ones in Desenzano and Peschiera (the fifth represented by Lonato), the name Lugana develops along the flat moraine south of Lake Garda, straddles two provinces (Brescia and Verona) and two regions (Lombardy and Veneto). But it is these clays, which in the end become gradually more hilly than sandy, that we find the custodian of the assets of the organoleptic Lugana: body heat, acidity and flavor in the structure of the wine. The surrounding countryside, is the perfect climate cradle to care and enhance the characteristics of the vineyards, underneath which lies a land whose geological history dates back 200 million years ago. The combination of these ancient lands and clay with a vine give life to a remarkable white wine: Lugana.

Winery

Jewel of technology and innovation, the large underground cellar is the symbol of a company that draws vital energy from its ability to renew itself. Built in 2000, the winery is equipped with modern equipment designed to protect the quality suitable and typical wine. Plant for the vinification and bottling high-tech help produce quality wines, made according to tradition. The manual harvest of the grapes pressing, controlled fermentation and aging in oak barrels and barrels marked the stages of a production process remained unchanged over time.