Polegato's LA GIOIOSA and VILLA SANDI

by Lucy Gordan


The wineries “La Gioiosa” and “Villa Sandi” have belonged to the Polegato family for three generations. Grandfather Mario began this entrepreneurial dynasty during the early 1900s by planting vineyards in the Valdobbiadene region. At Mario's death his son Divo took over. When Divo was killed in an automobile accident, Mario and Giancarlo were too young to run the business. In the meantime their energetic mother Amalia did such a good job, that Mario and Giancarlo decided to add her maiden name to their surname and dedicate to her their prize wine, “Villa Sandi's Opere Trevigiane, a classical method spumante.

The more prestigious "Villa Sandi" takes its name from its headquarters, a beautiful Palladian villa dating to 1622, only a few kilometers from Venice, in the heart of the Marca Trevigiana where the crème de la crème of Venetian society used to hold parties. Restored by the Polegato brothers, it is now a national monument.

While "La Gioiosa" produces about 5,000,000 bottles of still wine and 10,000,000 of prosecco for which it is Italy's leading producer, "Villa Sandi" produces 2,000,000 and is the purveyor of Opere Trevigiane to the Pope and to the President of Italy. In 1995, when his responsibilities at GEOX became too demanding to run all three companies, Mario transferred the management of "La Gioiosa" and "Villa Sandi" entirely to his brother Giancarlo, younger by five years. Giancarlo is also the President of the Wine Producers Association for the province of Treviso.

During Villa Sandi's restoration, several kilometers of tunnels, which had already been used as wine cellars in the past and more recently as a command post of the Italian Army during World War I since they were only five kilometers from the front, were rediscovered and are now home to 1,500,000 bottles of aging Opere Trevigiane. Every year 200,000 bottles of Opere Trevigiane leave these cellars.

Villa Sandi's product line is sold in wine shops and restaurants. In 2003 Opere Trevigiane won the guide Gambero Rosso's Oscar; its barrique wine Marinali Rosso won the Gold Medal at the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles and a silver won both at the Challenge International du Vin du Bordeaux and at Mundus Vini in Frankfurt; and its Prosecco di Valdobbiadene D.O.C . a silver medal at the International Wine and Spirit Competition in London in 2002, just to name a few.

Free tastings can be arranged by appointment Monday through Friday 9 AM-7 PM and Saturday 9 AM-1 PM. For more information contact "La Gioiosa" or "Villa Sandi" at Via Erizzo 113/A, 31035 Crocetta del Montello (Treviso), Italy, tel. 011-39-0423-8607, FAX 011-39-0423-665009 or www.lagioiosa.com and www.villasandi.com.

Of the 17,000,000 bottles produced annually by "Villa Sandi" and "La Gioiosa", particularly popular for its namesake prosecco and mainly distributed to supermarkets, about 50% is exported mainly to Germany, the United Kingdom and the USA, for a turnover of around 41 million euros.

Like his older brother, Giancarlo is an honorary consul: Botswana, and also an inventor. His stroke-of-genius is CLAXA, a cooler bottle made of two glass elements — an outer vase and an inner bottle — which are welded together. When refrigerated, a highly insulating gap between these two elements prevents heat transmission and thus guarantees that white wine maintains both its quality and a constant low temperature. Tests performed at the Experimental Center of Murano glass in Venice demonstrated that the insulating power and thermic capacity of CLAXA are definitely superior compared to those of a traditional bottle or cooler.

While operations continue to be managed by La Gioiosa SpA (tel. 011-39-0423-860918), in the United States "La Gioiosa" and "Villa Sandi"'s wines and grappas are imported by La Gioiosa USA, Inc., headquartered at One Penn Plaza, Suite 3515, New York, New York 10019-0002 and their distribution is conducted through major distributors in almost every state.