Casa Girelli

 

Casa Girelli

Established in the late 19th century, Casa Girelli is a long established Italian wine company. Casa Girelli has undergone significant growth over the years, and is now the fourth largest winery in Italy.

The winemaking story of Casa Girelli began in the early nineteenth century when Giovanni Girelli bought a small vineyard in the village of Borghetto, in Southern Trentino. There he successfully started his first winery. The original wine cellar was completely destroyed during the Second World War.
 
At the end of the war, Giovanni, with his son Renato, built a large and modern winery in Trento: the first Casa Girelli headquarters.
 
In 1959, Giovanni’s son Renato took over from his father and created one of the first subsidiary companies abroad, opening an office in Berlin. Casa Girelli was already at the time concentrating on the export markets: Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Holland and the U.K.
 
Sales grew enormously and, around the 1960s, Casa Girelli became responsible for 35% of all the export of wine to Germany.
 
Export has continued to grow strongly all over Europe, in the USA and in Southeast Asia, with export trade now accounting for 98% of production.
 
Today the Girelli family, in the form of Renato’s children, Marina and Stefano, still plays a very important role in the company. Casa Girelli now exports to over 40 countries all over the world – a staggering success! In recent years, the wine portfolio has expanded to include quality products of other Italian regions: Tuscany, Piedmont, Veneto, the Abruzzi, Puglia and Sicily.
 
Constant research into all aspects of the delicate production processes has led to Casa Girelli being awarded the highly important BRC (Technical Standards and Protocol for Companies Supplying Retailed Branded Food Products) in 2003. This certifies that the production processes have reached a certain quality and hygiene level. In 2006, the company was also awarded the IFS certificate (International Food Standards), which regulates the quality and safety in food suppliers, ensuring that they follow the strict laws on production.

In 2005, Casa Girelli was acquired by Trentino-based Cantina La-Vis. The philosophy of La-Vis is to focus on the land, the people who work the land, and on producing high quality wine. This concept is best expressed in the quality-price relationship of the wines and the focus on the market.   Together the two companies have formed Ethica – a collection of eight small to medium-sized wineries, which act one single entity in terms of sales and marketing for all their as products, while retaining the individuality of each of the wineries.