About us
Balze Grigie came about almost by chance in 2005 when we restored a piece of woodland that had once been a vineyard belonging to our great-grandmother Margherita in Pua, an outlying section of Pianazzòla.
In hindsight, it’s safe to say that nothing happens without a reason.
Balze Grigie began life as a side project, almost “for fun”. Over time, it has turned into a full-fledged business venture. In addition to our passion, it has required an incredible amount of time and constant work, and still does. The vineyard developer is a wine lover but knew nothing about growing grapes, and in any case, he was busy with his job, so he asked a retired uncle of his to embark on the adventure with him. They were later joined by an entrepreneur friend.
All of this involved a series of studies and research, guided by experts in the field who took part in the initiative and continue to work by our side with interest, enthusiasm and their proven abilities to help the project develop and grow over time.
The goal of Balze Grigie today is to produce refined, well-made organic wine. We strive towards high quality, without short-cuts, and our batches are small as we only use grapes grown on our own vineyards in Chiavenna.
One key point to remember is that before we even started thinking about making premium wine, we poured our time, patience and energy into salvaging the land and, more specifically, our historic, long-forgotten terraces. A whole series of interventions were needed to make them safe and allow them to be cultivated with modern techniques.
We very much hope that our combined efforts have contributed to nurturing a shared aesthetic sense of the landscape, not to mention the safety of our beloved town of Chiavenna, which coordinates the international project “Cittaslow Tourism Outdoor”. The village of Pianazzòla is characterized by balze, the towering crags of land and grey rock that give our winery its name: Balze Grigie.
