Do not be deluded by his composure and thoughtful silences; not even by his voice that is sometimes thin and masks a bit of shyness. Filippo Ugolini has fire flowing through his veins: it's the fire of awareness and belonging to a family and a land of which he is proud.
He is the newest member of Ugolini's staff; he graduated in marketing, administration, and accounting on July 1, 2022, and has been on the company's staff since December 2022. "I started my training from the storehouse in Bussolengo helping my uncle Alberto and stayed there until March of this year. It was important for me to understand how product flows and order management move within the mechanisms of the winery."
Fumane is my home
"I was born in this wonderful valley and I feel deeply connected to it. Staying on the winery was my dream and, perhaps, even a bit of my destiny; now it's up to me to deserve it all the way. In Valpolicella, here in Fumane, we are very blessed: it is a dramatic land and I see this feeling in the enthusiastic and excited eyes of the many tourists who come to our Villa San Michele."
I want to know everything about this world
Filippo Ugolini has a keen approach to the world of wine and, in particularly, to the mechanisms that guide the running of a winery. "I want, or at least I would like, to be able to know everything that is required to make this world I am entering work at its best. That is why I am training in the various areas and am taking the Second Level of the AIS Course. My passion, however, is still the administrative and business sector."
In what could Valpolicella still improve?
"I know that I am the latest arrival in my winery, but I am certain of this: I believe that the greatest weakness of this area that I love is the challenge of cooperating, of building a team, of collaborating in order to achieve even better results for the Valpolicella system. A system that could reveal itself to be fragile if the first warning sirens of trouble arrive."
If you were the "boss" of your company, what would you change?
Filippo Ugolini smiles… “Great question! If I were the boss, I would go against the trend with respect to the tradition and culture of this land. I would create a white wine that was a summary of the best native Italian grape varieties and I would suggest it to everyone who comes here to the winery to make them understand the value and potential, not just of Valpolicella, but of our amazing country: Italy.".
What is the Ugolini wine that makes you most excited?
"I tasted few days ago a bottle of Pozzetto, Valpolicella Classico 2016. I found it honestly exciting for its elegance and ability to convey to me the authenticity of my land."