Paolo Bea

The origins of the Tili cellars

The founder of the Tili family arrived here in Central Italy way back in 1200, as one of Barbarossa’s followers. And his descendants have never left. In 1978, following tradition and the family business, the owner of the company started to bottle the wine. His sole aim was to realise the dream of making the wine recognised, tasted and appreciated worldwide. And this is still happening down to today.

The Tili winery, which produces between 90,000 and 100,000 bottles a year, is now known in the United States, Japan, Denmark, Belgium, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland and Germany. The Tili wines stand out as value products due to the calcareous terrain on which they are grown, a terroir that is particularly permeable and unable to hold rainwater. This enriches the organoleptic profile of the grapes with saline. The strength of this family’s vineyards derives from the excellent geographic and climatic conditions. This combined with special growing techniques and lack of pesticides and weed killers produces wines of the highest quality. Tili products include Assisi Bianco DOC, Assisi Grechetto DOC, Assisi Rosso DOC, Gaudium, Muffa Reale, Assisi Pinot Nero DOC, Sacreterre and Young Assisi Rosso DOC.

We are at the Giuseppe Quintarelli winery. Silvio Quintarelli founded the company at the turn of the 20th century. The first vineyards of this historic winery were located in Figàri in the municipality of Marano di Valpolicella. Even then its wines were popular overseas and indeed were exported to the United States in small oak casks and demijohns. In 1924, the company moved to the valley and its present location and it was here that Silvio and his family continued their business. The 1950s brought generational handover, with Giuseppe, the youngest son, now managing the winery. He is the heart and soul of Quintarelli wines.

Quintarelli wines: perfect for aging

He was the one who gave the winery its name, who wrote its history, ensuring the success of Amarone and making his wines famous in Italy and around the world. Giuseppe is the one who has developed the winery, leading it to grow and innovate. However, he has never lost sight of what has given it strength over the years, that is, the traditional method, allowing only a few bunches to fully ripen, respecting nature and its seasons, using exclusively natural materials for growing the vines, handling the grapes and the wine. The wines in the Quintarelli cellars have two characteristics in common: a natural disposition for ageing for at least 10 years in wooden barrels and in bottles, which improves the wine and its characteristics and a liveliness that continues after the bottle has been opened.