Integrated Production at Tenuta Santa Maria: what the SQNPI Certification Means

SQNPI — National Quality System for Integrated Production — is the public certification through which the Italian State recognizes and guarantees agricultural products obtained using integrated production techniques. It was established by Law no. 4 of 2011 and has been operational as a certification scheme since 2016. Compliant products may carry its distinctive mark, the small bee that many consumers have come to recognize as a promise of more conscious viticulture.

“Integrated production” is not a vague formula. It means voluntarily adhering to a technical set of rules, defined at the regional level, that precisely establishes the permitted agronomic practices, restricts the choice of plant-protection products, and sets a maximum number of treatments for each threat. These rules are stricter than those required by mandatory integrated pest management: those who adopt them choose to go beyond the legal minimum.

Since 2023, for the wine sector, the scheme has been enriched with additional environmental, social, and procedural requirements, brought together in the National Certification Standard for the Sustainability of the Wine Supply Chain. Today SQNPI is the national reference for the certification of sustainable viticulture, and a growing share of Italy’s vineyards is converging toward this standard.

The Bertani family’s vineyards are spread between the heart of Valpolicella Classica, at Arbizzano di Negrar, and the calcareous hills of Soave, at Colognola ai Colli. Both estates lie in the Veneto and therefore follow the regional standard for integrated production, which takes into account the specific soil and climate conditions of our territory.

For us, adopting integrated production did not mean overturning our practices, but formalizing a care we have long exercised. Low yields, attention to grape ripening, the vitality of the soils, and the reading of the subtle variations of each vintage are the cornerstones of our work in the vineyard. The standard translates them into measurable, verifiable choices:

• a targeted and reduced defense, favoring monitoring and intervention only when necessary, limiting products and treatments to what the technical rules allow;
• the protection of soil and biodiversity, sustaining the natural fertility and microbial life on which a true terroir wine depends;
• the safeguarding of the local genetic heritage, consistent with our choice to grow indigenous varieties, exclusive Corvina clones, and massal selections from our old vines.

The result is not only environmental. A more balanced vineyard yields healthier, more expressive grapes, and this can be felt in the glass: freshness, aromatic clarity, and a deeper voice of place.

The strength of SQNPI lies in the fact that it is not a self-declaration. Membership entails a two-tier control system: the estate’s self-monitoring throughout the entire supply chain, and inspections by an independent Control Body that verifies the production process complies with the standard. Certification is annual and must be renewed, and it requires maintaining traceability from the vine to the bottle.

For those who choose our wines, this means something simple: the sustainability we describe is verified by a third party, according to a national standard, and not entrusted to the words on a label alone.

There is a natural coherence between integrated production and our idea of wine. We interpret Amarone, Valpolicella, Ripasso, Recioto, and Soave as different expressions of a single philosophy — purity of origin, elegance, depth — and this philosophy begins in the vineyard, long before the cellar. Reducing chemical impact and protecting the soil and the territory’s varieties is not a constraint we endure: it is the way we believe one should work in order to leave living vineyards and an intact landscape to those who come after us.

The bee on the label is small. But it says a great deal about how each of our bottles comes to be.