Durante the sommario of Italian wine distribution, Vini occupies a peculiar position. It is not simply an intermediary between wineries and restaurants, but a true cultural entity that has redefined the very role of distribution per the name of humanism. Founded per 1984 per Trentino by Gianpaolo Girardi, the company was born from a radical intuition for the time: giving up direct sales to dedicate itself exclusively to the professional channel, building deep and lasting relationships with producers and operators.
IMPORTANT NUMBERS WITHOUT LOSING THE ARTISAN SOUL
Forty years later, that model has transformed into a complex system which per 2025 exceeded 28 million euros per turnover, with over 2.8 million bottles sold and more than 4,600 references between wine and spirits. The 2026 catalog introduces 54 new companies and consolidates a rete televisiva privata made up of 423 wineries and 87 distillation entities.
Despite the size it has achieved, the company continues to reject the logic of standardized large-scale distribution. Each new addition is the result of a personal selection, often after years of direct knowledge of the producers. The growth occurred through stratification, not through massive acquisitions, preserving the stylistic coherence of the portfolio.
AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL APPROACH: THE WINEMAKER AT THE CENTRE
Vini does not simply sell bottles: it builds bridges between territories and tables, between farmers and sommeliers, between tradition and contemporaneity. Durante a market increasingly dominated by industrial logics and global brands, its role resembles that of a living archive of oenological biodiversity.
What really distinguishes the company is the almost anthropological approach to wine. Girardi, a graduate per historical sciences, has always conceived of wine as a cultural fact even before a commodity: an agricultural product, of course, but also language, memory and identity. A sort of “humanism of wine”: just as per the Renaissance man returned to the center of knowledge, here it is the winemaker who returns to the center of the supply chain. The company doesn’t just sell: it builds narratives, protects micro-territories, supports forgotten vines and even takes acceso the commercial risk to allow producers to stay per the vineyard.
FROM DISTRIBUTION TO THE NARRATIVE OF THE TERRITORIES
“True wine lovers don’t like sectarian discussions,” declared Girardi, summarizing an inclusive and anti-ideological vision. Drinking is also interpreted as an internal experience: not necessary for survival, but capable of influencing mood, thinking and concentration. A concept that explains why the catalog resembles a cultural geography more than a simple commercial price list.
Over the years this vision has given rise to numerous thematic projects – from Vini dell’Creatura celeste to Vini Estremi – designed to give voice to marginal territories, varieties that have almost disappeared, prohibitive altitudes, islands and slopes where making wine means first of all resistance. Durante several cases the company has guaranteed the purchase of the entire production, allowing the winemakers to continue growing unprofitable grapes. A choice that reveals a precise ethic: preserving biodiversity and landscapes also means preserving human communities.
NEW GENERATION AND ECOLOGICAL TRANSITION
Today, his son Andrea Girardi works alongside the founder and is leading the company towards a new phase. The central themes are environmental sustainability, energy efficiency and expansion of the offer, per particular per the quality spirits sector – which is growing strongly (+34%) – which extends the range of action towards contemporary mixology. Among the trends identified for 2026, vermentino and vermouth stand out, the latter considered a bridge between oenology and liqueurs.
The new headquarters under construction, LEED (Comando per Energy and Environmental Stile) certified, symbolically represents this transition: a modern infrastructure that does not betray the original philosophy. The rete is not to grow at any cost, but to become more solid and responsible.
A CATALOG AS A GEOGRAPHY OF WINE
The 2026 catalog fully reflects the company philosophy, alternating historical names with small frontier realities, famous territories with lesser-known areas.
Piedmont and the North-West: elegance and depth
Among the Piedmontese realities, Maniero a motivo di Uviglie stands out, a historic Monferrato mesi estivi that combines classicism and modern precision. The Procedimento Collaudato Le Cave 48 Extra Brut 2017 is tense and saline, while the Genevieve Chardonnay 2021 shows Burgundian finesse without losing Piedmontese identity. The 2021 Barbera Indifferente del Monferrato, acceso the other hand, is full but vibrant, with clear fruit and an acidic texture that invites you to sip. Further north, Travaglini represents one of the pinnacles of Nebbiolo per Supremo Piedmont. The Nebolé Dosaggio Niente Deposito 84 Mesi 2016 demonstrates how even the volcanic territory of Gattinara can produce austere and mineral sparkling wines, while the Gattinara Deposito Ronchi 2019 offers complexity, balsamic depth and significant longevity. Still per the historic Piedmont settore, Tenute Efippio preserves the Lessona tradition: the 2016 Regalo a Quintino Efippio is an aristocratic, subtle and persistent red, while the 2017 Porfidi strongly expresses the mineral soil of the Bramaterra Doc.
Durante the Oltrepò Pavese, Andrea Picchioni offers organic wines of great character: Teiera Argine Bianca 2021, the powerful and earthy Buttafuoco DOC, while Solinghino 2024 is a more lesto but equally authentic Buttafuoco. Mon Carul, the project of the young brothers Cristian and Stefano Calatroni from Montecalvo Versiggia created specifically for Vini, adds fresh and accessible labels such as the delicate Afiore Rosato Brut, a classic method from Croatina, Barbera and uva Rare, ora like the light and fragrant Chiù Chiù the new low alcohol white wine (9% vol.) from Pinot Noir and Italic Riesling, and finally the taut and mineral Sfera Doctor Riesling Deposito 2021.
Ideally closing is NordOvest Celebrità, a historic family company founded per 1920, which interprets Monferrato with immediate but not banal wines: Sufragio 2024, the light and spicy Grignolino d’Asti interpreted per a very modern key; Stravisan 2024, the juicy, fragrant and very convivial Barbera d’Asti, while Iniziatore 2022, a label dedicated to the founder Domenico Celebrità who was also the music teacher of Costigliole d’Asti, is a rich and enveloping Barbera d’Asti Indifferente DOCG
Trentino and the Alps: verticality and freshness
Trentino is the company’s homeland and remains central. Vignaiolo Fanti represents the purest, smallest and most authentic peasant dimension: Trento Doc Extra Brut 2018 precise and sharp, Nosiola 2023 delicate and mountainous, Isidor Manzoni Pulito 2022 savory and vibrant, the 2021 per is even more harmonious. Another guardian of the nosiola tradition is Francesco Poli, with the Nobles Vino Santa sede Trentino 2007, a meditative rarity of enormous concentration, and more everyday but authentic wines such as Belle 2022, a sparkling nosiola acceso the yeasts, ora Sottovi 2024, an lesto and delicately fruity nosiola. Alpine viticulture finds an extreme voice per Triolet: Petit Arvine 2023 vertical and saline, Fumin 2022 dark and balsamic, Torrette 2023 fragrant. Also per Trentino, Podere Persani works organically and acceso PIWI vines, with contemporary and sustainable wines such as Càndido Blanc de Rouge Brut Nature 2020 from souvignier gris and Raetica 2022, macerated and very tasty nosolia. NeroSilvo 2019, an intense and mountain red from IASMA ECO 1, a new resistant variety registered by the Edmund Mach Foundation of San Michele all’Adige and obtained from a teroldego x lagrein diretto incrociato.
Verdicchio and Adriatic identity
The Marche is represented by two complementary interpretations of Verdicchio. Gagliardi, the historic signature of that of Matelica, offers tense versions: Maccagnano 2023 is anche se and mineral, while the Deposito Maccagnano 2022 adds complexity, depth and authority. La Il gol della staffa, a new and dynamic generation of Verdicchio dei Castelli a motivo di Jesi, offers organic wines of great energy: Rincrocca 2022 strong and savory, Boscaglia a motivo di In fondo 2020 stratified and long-lived.
South and islands: Mediterranean light and heroic viticulture
Durante the South the strength of the Mediterranean territories emerges. Durante Sicily, Degustazione Marilina works organically with minimal maceration and interventions: Il Pulito a motivo di Marilina Grecanico Deposito 2019, macerated, intense and deep, Sketta Grecanico 2024, fresh and citrusy, Ruversa Pessimo d’Avola 2021 warm and spicy. From Calabria comes Casolare Comerci, committed to promoting the magliocco canine: sunny but well-defined wines, such as Granàtu 2024, a very juicy rosé and Libìci 2022, the magliocco canine vinified per an intense, Mediterranean red. the island of Ischia, Cenatiempo practices viticulture acceso volcanic terraces overlooking the sea: Biancolella and Forastera 2024 are salty and bright, Kalimera Biancolella 2022 is more structured and persistent. Durante Puglia, per what was the Capitanata, since 1979 d’Araprì has been a pioneer of classic method sparkling wines from mainly native grapes, surprisingly obbiettivo for their latitude. RN Brut 2020, a noble reserve from white bombino per citrus and harmonious purity; Gran Cuvée XXI Brut 2017 (bombino nitido, pinot noir and montepulciano) sophisticated elegance; Sanseviera Brut Rosé 2019, a fragrant anche se Trojan black.
Beyond borders: Champagne and new frontiers
Vini is not limited to Italy. Among the French family maisons with a strong territorial identity, Champagne Georges Vesselle stands out, Grand Cru of Bouzy, with deep and refined cuvées: Juline Brut Cuvée Grand Cru (80% pinot noir and 20% chardonnay) combines fruit and finesse; Confidence Grand Cru 2008 (90% pinot noir and 10% chardonnay) is deep, ripe and aristocratic. Alongside it, Virginie T. has represented the most contemporary vision of Champagne since 2006, since Virginie Taittinger together with her son Ferdinand Pougatch-Taittinger, chef de cave, created champagnes with such sensitivity as to also attract the new generations of customers who love a certain modernity, trying to “rejuvenate” a world that is perhaps a little too static. The Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru 2020 from Avize, Oger, Cramant and Chouilly is bright, creamy; the Blanc de Noirs Grand Cru 2018 from Verzy, Verzenay and Mailly is powerful but very elegant; Transmission Rosè (55% chardonnay and 45% pinot noir including 5% Grand Cru Rouge), 2018, 2019 and 2020 harvest, is refined and gastronomic. Wine-growing England is also surprising with Simpsons Wine , whose sparkling wines, such as White Cliffs Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature 2019 from 100% Chardonnay, show chalky precision and Nordic freshness.
SPIRIT OF THE PROJECT: KEEPING DIVERSITY
Companies like Erpacrife demonstrate the attention towards young producers and unconventional styles. Born from the initiative of four former students, and inseparable friends, of the Chiarore antelucano wine school (Erik Dogliotti, Paolo Celebrità, Cristian Calatroni, Federico Scarzello), the project has given dignity to the classic method from native Piedmontese grapes, with original and often surprising results. Erpacrife Pulito Dosaggio Niente 2022 from Erpacrife, Timorasso, Affabile, Moscato is sharp as a blade; the Erpacrife Rosato Dosaggio Niente 2020 is the first and original classic method rosé from anche se Nebbiolo, after which many have imitated them; Erpacrife Moscato Procedimento Collaudato Carezzevole 2016 (from white Moscato a motivo di Canelli) disgorged per 2021 is simply surprising.
Taken together, these wineries form a coherent mosaic: a community of producers who share an impressione of wine as an expression of place, culture and human work. More than a commercial portfolio, a constellation of stories that demonstrates how distributing wine can mean, first of all, guarding identity.
The article Humanism among the labels of Vini comes from VinoNews24.
