The foundation of the Bertani winery in 1857 is a milestone in the history of the wines of the province of Verona. The brothers Giovan Battista and Gaetano Bertani in the second half of the nineteenth century successfully bottled and exported to the United States the wines produced from their vineyards in Valpantena and Soave. Before them, Veronese wine was sold only locally, in bulk, in demijohns and was mainly sweet.
During the Austrian domination of Verona, Gaetano Bertani fled to Burgundy where he learned agricultural and enological techniques and particularly appreciated the taste of French wines. As a result of this experience, Bertani affirmed the dry taste and in 1870 created the Secco-Bertani brand.
The professionalism, the entrepreneurial spirit, the introduction of specialized vineyards and new farming systems made Bertani a point of reference for the whole region.
The original winery was in Quinto di Valpantena, in 1950 Bertani bought the estate of Villa Mosconi or Villa Novare - as it is now called - in the Negrar valley in the Valpolicella Classica. Here Bertani played a decisive role in the invention of Amarone della Valpolicella, released for the first time with the vintage 1958. If it is true that Amarone was already spoken of since 1939 (the first label found in Negrar with the word "Amarone"), it was in Bertani’s cellar in Novare that with the help of the Piedmontese oenologist Ernesto Carperò the fermentation technique of the Recioto wine (sweet wine) was perfected until it became dry (Amarone).
In more recent times Bertani has developed a Cru project to enhance the different wines of Valpolicella with their own identity, finding the most suitable vineyard for each one. He did a sort of zoning within his estate, in search of typicality. The historic Bertani company became part of the Angelini group, which took the name of Bertani-Domains.