History
Rambaldi origins
The Bardolino property is the oldest part of the Guerrieri Rizzardi family enterprise. Its documented viticultural origin is placed in 1450, when the Rambaldi family—ancestors of the Guerrieri—already owned vineyards on the hills around Bardolino. Agricultural activity included vines and olive groves on the eastern side of Lake Garda.
In the later eighteenth century, Agostino Guerrieri (1749–1833) married Maria Teresa Rambaldi, the final descendant of the Rambaldi family. The marriage transferred the Bardolino properties to the Guerrieri family, which continued developing local winegrowing and olive cultivation.
The Guerrieri-Rizzardi union
The property remained with the Guerrieri until Giuseppina Guerrieri (1873–1967), the last descendant of that line, married Carlo Rizzardi. Their marriage united the two families in 1913, created the Guerrieri-Rizzardi name and established Bardolino as the headquarters of the combined agricultural business. The first vintage bearing the new family name was 1914.
The productive centre occupied a group of historic buildings adjoining Palazzo Guerrieri in central Bardolino. Parts of this borgo date to the fourteenth century; from the seventeenth century, buildings within it served as cellars for the Counts Guerrieri. The complex subsequently incorporated barrel rooms, fermentation spaces, workshops, shops, lemon houses and administrative buildings.
Antonio Rizzardi and specialization in vines
After the Second World War, engineer Count Antonio Rizzardi (1914–1983), son of Carlo Rizzardi and Giuseppina Guerrieri, progressively transformed the family farms from polyculture toward specialized viticulture. In 1969 he helped found the Bardolino wine consortium and then served as its president for 15 years. He also initiated the family’s investment in tourism and hospitality.
Maria Cristina Loredan Rizzardi
Following Antonio’s death in 1983, Contessa Maria Cristina Loredan Rizzardi assumed responsibility for the business. She expanded the vineyards, developed new wines and sought international markets. From 1985 she applied the concept of a cru as a quality expression tied to a clearly delimited vineyard. Her work also extended to the family’s olive-growing activities: she became president of the Consorzio Tutela Olio del Garda in 1984 and contributed to the recognition of Garda extra-virgin olive oil as a DOP. In 2010 she became the first woman from the region to receive the Cavaliere del Lavoro distinction.
The next generation and the Campazzi winery
Giuseppe, Orsola, Olimpia and Agostino Rizzardi entered the family business from the late 1990s. New vineyards were planted, varieties were matched more deliberately to soil characteristics, and training systems were refined. Estate production and bottling remained central, preserving control from vineyard to finished bottle.
In 2011, production moved from the old cellars in central Bardolino to a new winery and headquarters at Campazzi, just outside the town. The single-level facility stands among vineyards and olive groves and was designed to improve production efficiency while reducing environmental impact. Its vinification and ageing spaces use renewable energy, gravity movement of must and other energy-saving systems. The historic town-centre cellars were subsequently restored as Borgo Bardolino and Rambaldi Apartments.
Sustainability and current leadership
A 4 ha organically certified vineyard on the hillside of Rocca del Garda was acquired in 2016. The organization began implementing its Equalitas management system in November 2023, issued its first Equalitas sustainability report in 2024 and obtained Certificate of Conformity No. 84222/20241107.
Agostino and Giuseppe Rizzardi now lead the wider family business as its thirteenth Rizzardi generation. Bardolino remains its headquarters and principal production site, while Tenuta di Bardolino encompasses vineyards in Bardolino and Cavaion Veronese.
Terroir
Location and landscape
The estate’s vineyards lie in the adjoining municipalities of Bardolino and Cavaion Veronese, two of the six municipalities in the Bardolino Classico area. They occupy hills along the eastern shore of Lake Garda, principally within the morainic amphitheatre facing the lake, at elevations from 70 to 190 m above sea level.
The winery stands on the hills outside the medieval town of Bardolino, among vineyards and olive groves. The Cavaion sector covers about 20 ha within a protected natural oasis that includes a glacial pond, vines, olive trees and the remains of the Romanesque church of Saints Faustino and Giovita.
Soils
The Bardolino DOC vineyards are principally established on glacial deposits. Sloping sites have sandy-loam textures with medium and coarse gravel, while flatter positions tend toward loam-silt and clay-loam-silt textures. In general, the soils are moderately deep, moderately well drained, alkaline and fairly calcareous.
The estate description also distinguishes sandy and silty ground, occasional stonier sectors and a marked presence of magnesium. These variations are considered when matching grape varieties and vineyard management to individual plots.
Climate
The climate is temperate and moderated by Lake Garda. The lake and the protection afforded by the pre-Alpine foothills reduce the influence of cold northerly winds. Within the higher Montebaldo subzone, elevation and the lake’s moderating effect help retain freshness and permit slow, even ripening.
Winemaking
Vineyard work is organized plot by plot. Each parcel follows a tailored programme intended to achieve the desired number of bunches and maintain control over yield per hectare. Pruning is meticulous; most trellised vineyards retain a single cane per vine under simple Guyot, limiting the number of buds and bunches. Separate teams combining younger and experienced personnel work in Bardolino, Negrar and Soave, and family members participate personally in vineyard and cellar work during harvest.
Soil chemistry and physical structure are analysed on average every four years and before new planting, both to guide site decisions and to plan base fertilization. All vineyards maintain spontaneous ground cover, supplemented in some places by sown melliferous species. Ground cover is used to limit surface erosion on slopes, improve soil bearing capacity, reduce compaction, strengthen physical and microbiological fertility, encourage biodiversity and support pollinating insects.
Cover-crop mixtures include peas, vetch and clovers. They are mown in summer to act as natural fertilizer. Shrubs and trees selected to attract beneficial insects have been planted at vineyard edges to help control pests and reduce reliance on synthetic plant-protection products.
Chemical herbicide use has been eliminated in the Bardolino DOC holdings. An autonomous Vitibot equipped for under-row cultivation is used to clean the vine row; mechanical inter-vine weeding is also practised in selected vineyards. Across the wider company, any remaining intervention is confined to a narrow strip and no more than two applications per year. Plastic vine ties are being progressively replaced with biodegradable ties made from plant fibre or paper.
Irrigation is reserved for emergency support. Water is supplied by reclamation consortia and licensed estate wells fitted with meters. Depending on the site, application uses monitored sprinklers, under-canopy microjets or drip lines. In a normal season, two or three irrigations during berry enlargement—principally from mid-June to late July before véraison—are considered sufficient for balanced production.
Each plot has its own supervision programme. Grape maturity is monitored to determine harvest timing. Before mechanical harvesting, damaged or insufficiently ripe bunches are removed manually; hand-picked fruit undergoes rigorous visual selection. The estate acquired a 4 ha organically certified vineyard on the Rocca del Garda hillside in 2016.
The organization began implementing the Equalitas SOPD rev. 4 sustainability system in November 2023 and subsequently obtained Equalitas certification under Certificate of Conformity No. 84222/20241107. Advanced pruning training combining theory and practical work has involved teams from all three family estates.
The Bardolino winery is the principal production site and company headquarters. Opened in 2011 on a single level, it contains the vinification and maturation cellars, internal bottling line, warehouse and visitor facilities. Its location among the estate vineyards minimizes the time required to move Bardolino fruit from vineyard to cellar.
Winemaking follows protocols adapted to individual grape varieties. The protocols define processing stages, operating methods and record-keeping systems and are reviewed annually. The objective is to produce white, rosé and red wines characterized by finesse, elegance, balance and a distinct personality.
The building incorporates a gravity system that moves crushed grapes or must from the reception area to the fermentation vessels. Red-wine fermentation tanks are positioned outdoors so that solar warmth assists in reaching fermentation temperature. Stainless-steel tanks form part of the cellar equipment. Chiaretto is distinguished from red Bardolino by rosé vinification with minimal skin contact.
Bottling takes place on an internal line, with bottling days scheduled according to production and market requirements. Potable water is used for equipment cleaning and sanitation under defined protocols governing frequency, detergent use and water consumption.
The winery was designed for energy self-sufficiency. Approximately 2,000 m² of solar panels generate more power than the facility consumes, while production water is drawn from an estate well. Renewable energy and a single-level layout support lower-consumption, more efficient handling.
An automated warehouse introduced at the Bardolino production site can manage more than 620 pallets through shuttle systems, intelligent controls and full traceability. It enables faster storage, larger production batches and additional bottle-ageing time for wines that require it.
Most wines use lightweight glass bottles. Production materials are sorted for recycling, including tasting bottles and corks, office paper and the cardboard and plastic wrapping used for dry goods.
Philosophy
Land, history and family tradition form the basis of the estate’s production philosophy, while technical innovation is accepted where it improves quality or reduces environmental impact. The vineyards and cellar remain under family ownership and management, with family members participating directly during harvest and long-serving employees contributing continuity.
The guiding production model is estate-grown and estate-bottled wine. Control of vineyard yields, parcel-specific cultivation, rapid transfer of fruit to the cellar and annually reviewed vinification protocols are intended to preserve identity and deliver finesse, elegance and balance.
Variety selection is based on the relationship between grape and soil rather than tradition alone. Regional grapes remain central, but authorized international or supplementary varieties may be planted where their contribution and site suitability justify them. Barbera and Sangiovese were already present by the beginning of the twentieth century; Chardonnay, Merlot and Ancellotta were introduced during the 1990s to add complexity and intensity.
Sustainability is understood in environmental, social and economic terms. Its practical expression includes renewable energy, gravity handling, reduced inputs, mechanical under-vine management, biodiversity plantings, ground cover, measured emergency irrigation, lighter packaging, recycling, local supplier relationships and formal Equalitas management. The family presents hospitality as another part of this philosophy: wines are experienced in the places where they originate, alongside the estate’s landscape and history.