Tenuta Sozzigalli

Family origins and the ancestral method

Tenuta Sozzigalli forms part of the Chiarli family's agricultural estates and supplies Lambrusco di Sorbara for the family's premium wines. The broader family enterprise began in Modena in 1860, when Cleto Chiarli made Lambrusco at his Trattoria dell’Artigliere. Bottle refermentation—the method now commonly called ancestral—was the original basis of his production.

A surviving Vecchia Modena bottle dated 1890 is the oldest documented Chiarli bottle bearing a Lambrusco label. Cleto Chiarli took this presentation to the 1900 Paris Exposition, where it received a Mention Honorable. The Vecchia Modena label subsequently disappeared from the range around the middle of the twentieth century.

From Charmat to vineyard selection

The introduction of the Charmat method in the mid-1950s transformed Lambrusco production, providing more consistent, clean and fruit-focused wines suitable for wider markets. Chiarli nevertheless retained bottle-fermented Lambrusco even when demand contracted to only a few thousand bottles and a few dozen customers. This continuity ultimately provided the historical and technical foundation for Lambrusco del Fondatore, made from Sorbara associated with the Sozzigalli estate.

Mauro and Anselmo Chiarli, sons of Giorgio and members of the fourth generation, entered company management from 1964. Mauro assumed responsibility for the family farms, moving vineyards into more highly regarded areas and directing clonal selection. Anselmo concentrated on modernizing the winery and its equipment. In 1970, alongside the establishment of the three Modenese Lambrusco DOCs, the family began recovering and selecting historic Sorbara and Grasparossa material. The descendants of the best vines were subsequently replanted through massal selection, work that became fundamental to the estate-grown premium wines.

Revival of Vecchia Modena

Vecchia Modena returned in 1980, when a Brut Sorbara was presented at the National Congress of Assoenologi. Its reception marked the beginning of a renewed emphasis on higher-quality Lambrusco. During the 1980s the family continued recovering old clones from its vineyards and replanting selected descendants to obtain wines with greater depth and a stronger varietal identity.

The Cleto Chiarli project

In 2000 the family created the Cleto Chiarli project and a modern winery at Castelvetro dedicated to estate-grown grapes. Premium Vecchia Modena inaugurated the new production, using a strict selection of pure Lambrusco di Sorbara from the Sozzigalli vineyard. Its direct prise de mousse from must combined the revived historic Vecchia Modena identity with a modified pressure-tank method.

The cellar at the historic Tenuta Cialdini was formally inaugurated in 2002. It was designed to vinify the best grapes from the family's three estates under the Cleto Chiarli name. Sozzigalli supplied the Sorbara component of this estate-based project, while the family retained two distinct expressions of that material: Premium, fermented directly from chilled must in a pressure tank, and Lambrusco del Fondatore, preserving natural refermentation in bottle.

Between 2000 and 2017, fifth-generation family members Carlo and Tommaso Chiarli continued developing the Cleto Chiarli estate-wine project alongside the family's other initiatives.

The defining viticultural work at Sozzigalli is the preservation and propagation of historic Lambrusco di Sorbara material. The Chiarli family began systematic recovery and massal selection of old Sorbara and Grasparossa clones in 1970 and intensified the recovery of old vineyard material during the 1980s. Descendants of the best vines were replanted rather than replacing the historic population with a uniform selection.

At Sozzigalli, this work produced a vineyard population of rare indigenous Sorbara clones that retains the variety's original characteristics. The vines produce loose clusters with irregular berries and frequent millerandage, resulting in naturally low yields. Fruit for Premium is subjected to strict selection before vinification.

Sozzigalli's Sorbara is vinified at the Cleto Chiarli cellar in Castelvetro, located at Tenuta Cialdini and dedicated to grapes from the family's agricultural estates. The modern facility was conceived in 2000 and formally inaugurated in 2002.

Direct fermentation in pressure tank

Premium Vecchia Modena is made from selected pure Sorbara. After light maceration and soft pressing, the must is drawn off and immediately chilled. Static settling follows, after which the must is held at 0°C to prevent fermentation.

Instead of completing an initial alcoholic fermentation and then inducing a separate secondary fermentation, the chilled must undergoes alcoholic fermentation and prise de mousse as one continuous process in a pressure tank. Fermentation proceeds slowly, at lower temperatures and over a longer period than a conventional two-stage Charmat process. Carbon dioxide produced during fermentation is monitored continuously and accumulated gradually to obtain a fine mousse. The method is intended to preserve the fresh-fruit aromas, acidity and other characteristics of Sorbara as directly as possible.

Natural bottle refermentation

Lambrusco del Fondatore preserves the family's earlier method. Natural prise de mousse takes place in bottle with zero dosage and no final disgorgement. The wine then ages for six months, retaining a light deposit of fermentation lees. Modern cellar control is combined with the ancestral process to preserve Sorbara's freshness, perfume and finesse while retaining the character contributed by the yeasts.