Garzöl, which means "bud" in the local dialect, is the project of two old friends, Denis Girola and Giulio Marantelli, who grew up in the town of Teglio in the Valtellina valley. Both were from families that had been farming vines for generations. The two neighboring families grew and sold grapes in bulk for many years, then not making wines for commercial purposes, although they would make family wines. A few years back, Denis and Giulio decided to change that and team up together, assembling a fantastic small vineyard of 3 hectares on the slopes directly above Teglio, part of it on the Valgella subzone of the DOCG appellation. The vineyards range from 300m to 500m, growing on very steep terraces where work can only be done by hand. Giulio has been building and maintaining all the dry walls and some of the terraces have no more than one row of vine!

In the cellar, their approach is to make wines the most traditionally as possible, to express best the terroir of Valtellina, its soil and its culture. So we are talking natural fermentation, large neutral vats and minimal intervention.

The first wines released were the 2019 and the wines are absolutely vibrant and precise. We immediately fell in love!