Wrapped among the vineyards of the Soave Classico hills, a few steps from the walls of the medieval castle, emerges the Leonildo Pieropan winery, completely immersed in nature, in an enchanting rural setting.
A work that lasted five years and saw its light in 2022. The underground winery is almost hidden under the hill. A building harmoniously in tune with the landscape that surrounds it, the verdant hills of Soave, in Verona. The project was designed by architect Moreno Zurlo of the Verona-based firm A.c.M.e., with the involvement of some 40 craftsmen from northern Italy.
The idea, from the point of view of landscaping, was to raise a strip of the slope and “hide” underneath it the winery, which has significant dimensions, ten thousand square meters. The main pillars of the construction were efficiency and sustainability, in a constant dialogue between the company’s production needs and the desire to transform the structure into a space open to wine tourism, art and culture.
The rooms dedicated to hospitality and the premises host events, art exhibitions, and wine courses, precisely to actively interact with wine enthusiasts. The Pieropan family, in particular Leonildo, who was the light of quality Soave at a time when more quantity was being made, worked with passion and dedication to build this new House.
Unfortunately Leonildo died before seeing it done, but we are sure he is proud of the result. The family wanted to dedicate this place to him, a humble man with strong ties to Soave, so much so that he has taken him to the pinnacle of the panorama of Italian wine and beyond.
The structure is made up of twenty-eight meter long concrete slabs without supporting columns and to minimize the use of polluting means of transport, local materials have been carefully chosen, such as brass, natural Vicenza stone, Euganean trachyte and Brenta lime . They are materials that experience the seasons and change over time, just like the wine that is produced inside.
The ceiling supports a two-metre-high piece of land, in which a vineyard has been planted, in order to make the building even more in communion with the surrounding environment.
The organization of the internal spaces follows the production cycle and the functional and hygienic-sanitary needs of the various environments. In particular, all the rooms addressed to the processing (withering, vinification, bottling, laboratory, packaging, sales and administration) open onto the single elevation facing the valley. The spaces addressed to the refinement and aging of the bottles, as well as the deposits and warehouses, are instead completely underground.
The decision to set up the structure and easy internal circulation on a single level enhances the close relationship between organization of spaces and production.
The containment of the external paved area has allowed the re-planting of the vineyards on almost the entire plot of land, for the benefit of the environmental impact.
In the main tasting room, the tables present the shape of the molecules of white wine, detected by the spectrophotometer, the result of a study by the University of Florida.
The cellar, called the La Rocca room in honor of one of the company’s best known and most appreciated wines, is a real twist, with copper lamps that seem to float in the air and the shining gong at the back of the room which represents the golden and mature of the Garganega, the main vine of Soave。
