From brokerage to vineyards
“At the moment we’re harvesting our grapes: September is a busy time in the vineyard, but it’s the heart of my work, a job I love because it never gets old. Each year’s harvest is unique and it’s up to me to interpret it in the best possible way.” To hear her talk this way, it would be hard to believe that Giovanna Prandini has spent much of her career nowhere near the vineyards, working in the insurance and financial sector as a broker in the city. A far cry from the family estates near Brescia, in Northern Italy, where she grew up.
“After high school, I enrolled at Bocconi in DES, Economic and Social Disciplines. I graduated in 1996 with a thesis on the long-term care insurance sector. Then I started my career in Brescia, first as an insurance agent and then as a broker. I even passed the state exam as a financial advisor.” In the meantime, Prandini cultivated her passion for wine, becoming a sommelier by completing the course run by the Italian Sommelier Association and studying the entire value chain: from grape to glass. She dreamed of making a career out of it, a dream she realized together with her brother Ettore. Together they now run the Perla del Garda winery, born from the idea of bringing the vineyard back to the Moraine Hills of the family farm.
“My family had a farm where we raised livestock for generations, dairy cows. The idea of creating a winery came to us in the early 2000s, but it wasn’t until 2006 that we started producing wine, vinifying our own grapes, with a small production of 60,000 bottles which we sold on the Italian market. Today we’re producing at our optimal capacity, with 300,000 bottles sold in 15 countries,” she adds. Fine wines that mainly end up the tables of Italian restaurants, but find their way to other countries too: the United States, Germany, and Japan. The vineyards, which cover about 40 hectares between Lonato del Garda and Padenghe, are all organically farmed with an eye to sustainability, and we mainly planted with indigenous grapes such as Turbiana and Groppello, but also Riesling and Chardonnay, Merlot, and Rebo. The grapes are always hand-picked, and vinified using the “a caduta” method (gravity-flow fermentation): the two pillars of Perla del Garda’s production.
“Farming has allowed me to express my most creative side in my work, the total freedom to create whatever I want: conceiving the product, experimenting, selecting the right grapes,” says Prandini, who invites young people to discover the sector because it offers growth opportunities in a field that is “the pride of Made in Italy.”
Prandini is very optimistic about the agricultural sector. “I haven’t come across any major obstacles due to the fact that I’m a woman, but instead because I’m new to the sector and less experienced. So with humility I’ve devoted myself to studying to fill the technical gaps, and I’ve always appreciated opportunities to engage with colleagues and producers, who have taught me so much by sharing their experiences. But it’s true that, despite the cultural evolution of recent years, there are still not many of us women, so we have to help one another.”
This is also why Prandini, as a businesswoman, is a member of the association Le Donne del Vino (Women of Wine). “We are a group of women who create networking projects and promote cultural initiatives. I think it’s important to publicize the role of women in the wine production value chain.” And to provide a positive role model for younger women.
