ESE ROME - Company Visit at "Casale del Giglio"

Last Tuesday, March 3rd 2020 students from ESE Rome Campus had the chance to visit one of the most famous wine companies based in Lazio, called “Casale del Giglio”.
Our students were greeted by Mr. Alessandro Troccoli, our expert and charming guide that welcomed our group in the company’s hall.

Mr. Troccoli explained to the students the long history that led to the foundation in 1967 of “Casale del Giglio” by Dr. Berardino Santarelli.
Everything started in 1914 when the brothers Emidio, Isidoro and Antonio Santarelli created the company “Berardino Santarelli & Figli”, named after the founding father, Berardino, Wine Merchant. In 1924 Berardino’s three sons moved to Rome where they opened their first “Vini & Olii” – a wine and olive oil store – in the heart of the city at number 99 Piazza Capranica that is still owned by the family today, called “Collegio”. In 1955 Emidio’s son Dino founded the company “Santarelli S.p.A.” to bottle Lazio’s classic wines. These were sold largely in Rome but were also exported abroad. In 1967 Dino Santarelli, fascinated by the Agro Pontino valley, founded Casale del Giglio at Le Ferriere, a hamlet close to the ancient city of Satricum in the province of Latina, some 50 kms. south of Rome.

The tour carried on at the company’s outdoors. Mr Troccoli explained why Dr. Santarelli chose the Agro Pontino valley for his great ideas. A land close to the Tyrrhenian sea which presents the same climate traits of other two most important areas, involved in wine production: California and Australia. The Agro Pontino soil, with its organoleptic traits, gave the chance to achieve a great result: Casale del Giglio nowadays offers a range of 22 products – seven white wines, one rosè, seven reds, one late harvest, three grappas and an extra olive oil.

Casale del Giglio has covered its 200 hectares of vineyard with the cordon trained system, electing to plant those grape varieties which adapt well to the territory and produce quality wine.
Then Mr. Troccoli showed us, first of all, the large stainless-steel vessels where wine fermentation takes place. Unoaked wine is fermented in a barrel made of stainless steel or other material having no influence in the final taste of the wine.
Then he brought us to the basement, where students could understand the importance of the wine aging process. This phase take place in wooden containers made of oak, allowing oxygen to enter and water and alcohol to escape.

Mr. Troccoli, underlines how this process is delicate in order to obtain all the different wines’ qualities that Casale del Giglio produces and sells all over the world.

Our tour ended with the wine tasting moment. From the Casale del Giglio own’s production, Mr. Troccoli had selected three types of wines: the white one called Anthium, the rosè called Albiola and the red one called Matidia.
Mr. Troccoli explained to our students the right and conscious way to taste wine, smelling its fragrance, looking at its colour and then researching this feeling in its flavour.

The European School of Economics of Rome would like to thank Casale del Giglio for this unique experience, above all Mr. Troccoli who was able to instil his passion and knowledge to our students, in a very professional way.
This kind of activity gives our students the chance to understand and see how different companies’ departments work, showing our students the business and how important it is to reach a high quality of products in order to become a leader in this sector.