The 2009 Wine Pleasures Workshop: Buyer meets Italian Cellar will take place in Treviso, Italy, from May 18 – 20, 2009. Bringing together small to medium sized boutique wineries of all regions of Italy including: Veneto, Sicilia, Campania, Lombardia, Abruzzo, and Toscana and wine importers, wholesalers, retailers and HORECA from around the world, this year’s workshop will be the first of its kind in Italy.

Verona based (Cazzano di Tramigna) Casa Vinicola Bennati (Soave DOC & Valpolicella DOC) will be participating with a wide range of high quality wines which have already notched up favourable reviews both in Italy and in International markets. Here is background information on the Bennati winery:

“Mr Antonio Bennati was born in the year 1870 in Cazzano di Tramigna, a few kilometres from the celebrated town of Soave near Verona. At the end of the 19^th century Mr Antonio began to produce and sell wine, above all locally, with the famous straw flasks.

Antonio was also nicknamed “Toni Recioto” from the homonym Verona sweet straw wine, as the winemaking of the more renowned Amarone had not been discovered yet.

It was in 1920 that his son Annibale Bennati registered the company with the name Cantine Bennati (Bennati Wineries). The purchase of some hectares north of Cazzano took place in those years. This area was already denominated in topographic maps of that time “Cornalè”, which is a current range of wines of the Bennati family. 

After the second world war, with the entry in the company of the young sons Ezio and Aldo, the winemaking expanded reaching all the most important varieties of Verona wines.

Therefore the selection I Gadi came to life, from the homonym area close to Cazzano, exalting and plugging the vineyard site. Then we recall the classic Soave, Bardolino, Valpolicella, the “White of Custoza” and the great Amarone.

At the end of the eighties, with the entry of the fourth generation, that is of the sons Antonio, Paolo and Giorgio, the Bennati family decided to undertake the hard but gratifying way of quality.  

Thus the selection Soraighe arose, an area located on the borderline between the Val Tramigna and the Val D’Alpone, exalting in a deeper and more remarkable way the great Verona wines that all the world envy, namely the interesting Valpolicella Ripasso, the fresh Lugana, the very good Classic Soave, the class Ireos and the austere and precious Amarone.

In this period important investments in technology took place, in particular the purchase of a big wine barrel cellar (barricaia) for the refining of the red wines, giving a significant qualitative boost to the entire production chain.

In confirmation of the big sacrifices and the success obtained the positive judgements from international and local critics could not fail. These have materialized with the prize-giving and the recommendation in some wine guidebooks.

If you would like to contact the Bennati winery about their wines and winery please do so through their web site. If you would like to particpate as a buyer at the Wine Pleasures Workshop Buyer meets Italian Cellar please complete an enrollment form.