Let's discover the Ai Galli brand: here is our interview

The Azienda Agricola Winery Ai Galli is a winery that produces great wines, interpreters of a unique style in the search for perfect balance, able to tell the story of the precious territory of the TriVeneto. It was founded around the 70s and develops between the borders of Veneto and Friuli Venezia-Giulia, the cradle of a Terroir highly suited to the cultivation of vines since ancient Roman times.

Passion, research, dedication and respect for traditions: these are the fundamental values pursued by Ai Galli Company since its inception. Born from a deep love for its land and driven by an unconditional passion for wine and for its work, the Ai Galli winery can currently count on a vineyard area that covers a total of about sixty hectares, located in the eastern area of Veneto, and falling within the territory of the controlled denomination of origin “Venice-Lison-Pramaggiore”.

For over forty years, a single real objective: the search for excellence in wine, through the creation of products that reflect the noblest values of elegance, balance and respect for typicality. The Ai Galli Winery is renewed and reinforced daily in the constant commitment made, in the undisputed territoriality of the wines produced, in the never satisfied desire to grow and improve. The heritage and knowledge of Cantina flow into everyday work with great personality and consistency, creating a unique oenological identity in the territory. This philosophy leads us to think of the Winery as the place where the knowledge, experiences and the oldest traditions of the transformation of grapes into wine are preserved, which combined with the most modern technologies guarantee the highest quality yield.

We like these realities, these producers of unique, certified and award-winning delicacies: they are real treasures embedded in our Peninsula between seas and mountains and in the most remote streets of villages and countryside. We don't stop to experience only their products, but we want to discover more closely the protagonists of this brand. That's why we sent some questions to those who manage communication with us.

Stay with us and get to know Ai Galli: read the answers!

• Who are we talking to?
  I'm Alberto Piccolo, Sales Manager.
  
• Is the company family run? For how many generations and from what year exactly?
  The winery was founded about 50 years ago and continues to be a family business today, having reached the third generation of the Galli family.
  
• What year was the company founded and who was the founder? What was the founder's education or what is the work and professional branch from which he came if different from the current one?
  The story of Ai Galli dates back to the early Seventies: Agostino Galli and his wife Elide began to buy some plots on which the first vineyards were then planted. Eastern Veneto has always had a deep connection with viticulture, and more generally with agricultural life. In those years, the concept of “quality production” linked to wine was not well established in our territories: the birth of different realities, including ours, for which the main objective had to be the quality of the product along the entire production chain (from the vineyard to bottled wine) led to a constant change in the mentality, and therefore in the work methodology, of all the actors involved in the wine supply chain of our production area.
  
• What is your relationship with the land of origin and its typicality? And why do you want to tell them with your products?
  The company is located in a particular area, namely in the extreme Eastern Veneto, straddling two of the most important Italian wine regions: Veneto and Friuli Venezia-Giulia. This leads us to enclose within our 60 hectares of vineyard different types of soils and different varieties of grapes, from the typically international ones to the native ones, which represent our true heritage in the wine sector. The philosophy of Ai Galli stems from the strong bond with our past, constantly renewed through everyday work. In this sense, we talk about the deep bond and the enhancement of our oldest vineyards, fully integrated with our terroir, about the development of the concept of “cru” with the aim of identifying all the differences/nuances that our terroir can give to our grapes.
  
• What was the first product you created?
  The products on which the company initially decided to undertake a process of enhancement were Tocai and Cabernet Franc. The latter, despite being an international grape variety, has historically always found its purest expression in Eastern Veneto.
  
• What is the product that today, on the other hand, do you consider “top”?
  To date, we cannot fail to consider the Lison Classico DOCG. We are talking about the only, albeit small in terms of surface area, DOCG from Tocai grapes present in Italy. Lison Classico is the wine that most connects us to our most important memories: Tocai represents for us the maximum expression of typicality that a white grape can express in our territory. This grape variety has found ideal conditions in our typically clay soils, characterized by a particular surface layer of calcium carbonate called “caranto”, giving grapes capable of producing wines of great elegance and longevity.
  
• Let's talk about today: how big has the company grown since its inception? Can we get some numbers?
  Today, the company owns about 60 hectares entirely under vines between Veneto and Friuli Venezia-Giulia, producing about 500,000 bottles/year, sold in the national market and in 25 countries around the world.
  
• Right now: more tradition or more innovation?
  The Ai Galli philosophy has always sought the perfect balance between these two factors. Traditions represent everything that has allowed the company to develop over time and continue to this day. Inside our historic aging cellar, all the original cement tanks of the time have been restored, which are now used for the aging phase of all our still wines. In the same way, all the innovations that can lead to improving the quality of work in the vineyards and in the cellar must be taken into account in order to become new traditions in the future.
  
• Speaking instead of the future: what tomorrow will the company wait for? Are there any changes or some new evolutionary process planned?
  Like any forward-looking company, our primary objective is to constantly grow, through the development of 3 fundamental points: sustainability from an agro-agronomic point of view, the constant search for product improvement, and the expansion of our sales network.
  
• Are you planning to create new products?
  Currently our product portfolio is very rich and varied. At the same time, focusing on market trends and demands is a very important job to be implemented constantly.
  
• Having focused on Spaghetti & Mandolino, how important is online sales for you, what was your relationship in the past with this sales channel and how do you see it in the future?
  Online sales are no longer new, not even for our sector, so it should be considered by all companies as a real opportunity to diversify their sales channels, reaching the final consumer more quickly, directly and effectively.
  
• Value: what was it, what is it today and what will it be in the future for your company?
  As already expressed, undoubtedly one of our fundamental values is respect for tradition, in all its forms. This does not mean being anchored in the past, but rather developing and bringing new concepts and innovations into daily work while maintaining a common thread with
our past.

S&M