If Oltrepò Pavese attracts big brands: 100% of Casa Re to Masi Agricola

No changes, especially radical or momentous ones, happen suddenly. There are signs that anticipate them, more or less numerous or obvious, you just have to know how to catch them. And if two clues make a proof, it becomes legitimate to imagine that something great, or at least positive, is happening in Oltrepò Pavese, an area battered by a long series of stumbles and widespread mismanagement, but with undoubted winemaking potential, especially when it comes to sparkling wine. Which, in not even a month, has welcomed two of the most important wine families in Italy: after Guido Berlucchi, with the acquisition of the boutique winery Vigne Olcru, Masi Agricola, a Valpolicella griffe led by Sandro Boscaini, lands in Oltrepò, announcing the signing of a preliminary contract to acquire 100% of Casa Re, owned by the Casati family and owner of the winery in Montecalvo Versiggia, in the Oltrepò Pavese, just outside Santa Maria della Versa.

Casa Re consists of 13 hectares planted with vines in a single body, mainly planted with Pinot Noir, and located in a highly attractive pedoclimatic and landscape context, as well as several buildings, for both production and accommodation purposes, and a fine Art Nouveau villa. The final contract will be signed in January 2024, and in the meantime, Masi will take over direct management of Casa Re’s viticultural activities at the end of the current crop year. “Landing in Oltrepò Pavese represents a “consistent trespassing” from the territory of the Venezie, which are and remain our elective area. Indeed, we have identified the strategic complementarity of Oltrepò Pavese - emblematic of the Italian Metodo Classico - with other expressions of an increasingly significant sparkling wine side of the Masi Group” label range, such as Canevel in Valdobbiadene and Conte Federico Bossi Fedrigotti in Trentino, to generate synergies and create potential areas of growth”, comments Federico Girotto, CEO Masi.

The operation was carried out through the consulting services of Colline e Oltre Spa, an investee company of Intesa Sanpaolo and Fondazione Banca del Monte di Lombardia, with the aim of creating joint interventions for the revitalization and enhancement of the Oltrepò Pavese territory. “Oltrepò Pavese represents a great opportunity to tell the story of Made in Italy through the beauty of the area and especially the excellence of its vineyards, with particular attention to Pinot Noir. The operation set up between Masi and Casa Re represents a further important step in the program of support for the territory that the company Colline e Oltre is promoting in synergy with the Agribusiness Department, Intesa Sanpaolo’s center of excellence dedicated to Italian agribusiness”, concludes Matteo Casagrande Paladini, general manager of Colline e Oltre Spa.