The Winery

From Verona looking North beyond the red bricks of the crenelated walls of Castel Vecchia, you will find our winery ‘Corte Merci’ amongst the greenery facing our vines. At our place here, you can live relaxing and tasteful moments, as we are located in a tranquil and panoramic setting. We are  the heart of Valpolicella, in the hills of Jago de Negrar, 20km from the historical city of Verona.
From our outside terrace, you can admire the soft altitudes of the valleys which welcome the city of Romeo and Juliet, and on the clearest days, it’s easy to surprise oneself by recognizing the Appenines and admiring beautiful Italy even from here.

Our Story

The Merci family has always been a family of wine growers and through generations, handed down the courage and determination to develop new ideas to enhance the wellbeing of people.
We find it difficult to talk about the brand name because Merci does not only represent a surname, it is a family with a story which started thanks to our ancestors, carried out by our parents and followed on by us brothers.  We grew up and crossed the sector until we reached commercialization and the final direct sale.

From our great grandfather was born a passion for the vineyards. He is the one who gave us the land and brought up a family dedicated to the love of nature and its resources.

In 1957 , grandfather Giovanni decided with great foresight to move to the hills of Jago di Negrar not far from Colle Masua in order to grow and produce wine from the land which is ideal for winegrowing.

The first wine produced by our grandfather was made to make the locals happy or for itinerant travelers. It was sold in the inns and taverns and also to neighbours and countrymen who recognized the love of his land in his work.

With the passing of time, thanks to experience, the production of wine increased, allowing our grandfather to introduce himself and consequently supply restaurants. From that moment on, our wine also satisfied the most sophisticated of palates of tourists and travelers.

With wisdom, our parents have founded agricultural tourism in Valpolicella Classica, hallmark of the territory, but at the same time the hallmark of the wine. We collect the grapes and have produced wine for more than twenty years, mainly for consumption through agricultural tourism but also to satisfy the needs of our guests.

The meticulous and careful work to promote our wine has brought us great results and encouraging reviews, so that in 2015, with the help of our parents, we two brothers, Marco and Nicola, decided to dedicate ourselves solely to winemaking with grapes to enter the international market, with the wine bottled and stamped "Corte Merci".

Our Structure

The Winery has recently been constituted and is made up of modern systems. It is on two floors, with specific spaces dedicated to each production phase.

Everything that is picked that goes into the winery, passes through our hands, that is to say, we follow the hand harvest method just as tradition taught us to do. During the entire wine year we carry out manual pruning on the vines and bunches of grapes in order to improve the quality of the grapes which have been produced to obtain a better quality of wine each year that passes.

We carry out the grape picking in two phases:

Selecting the grapes for drying

In the first phase, we select the best bunch of grapes which are placed one by one in boxes. These are then put in a drier which is naturally aerated. These first grapes rest for two months before proceeding with the pressing and production of the Recioto and of the Amarone.

Grape picking for immediate pressing

Even the second phase is carried out by hand and consists in picking grapes which were left on the vines after the first selection. We take them to the winery in small loads in order not to spoil the more delicate grapes. We then press them in order to avoid uncontrolled fermentation.

Come and taste our wines which you will find on the table of our ‘Agriturismo’ (our farm where you can sample our local produce).