Michele Scienza and his wife Annalisa Motta founded Guado al Melo, but they follow a long wine-making tradition.
Michele’s great-grandparents were winegrowers from Avio in Trentino (in the Lagarina Valley), tenants of a noble estate. His grandparent Ezio managed to buy the vineyard. In the 1950s and 1960s, he and his wife Giuseppina produced unbottled wines and grapes for the social winery. In 1978, they began to bottle their own wine, with the help of their son Attilio and his wife Caterina. The small winery (Vallarom) quickly became a byword for quality in Trentino.
In 1998, following the death of the grandparents, the winery was too small for both grandchildren to continue the business. That gave us the opportunity to start a new life in Tuscany, at just under thirty years of age. Our sons were born here: Giovanni in 2001 and Federico in 2007.
Professor Attilio Scienza: Michele’s father and son of Trentino vine growers, is an esteemed former university lecturer in viticulture in Milan and a well-known international expert in the field. He has supervised research projects in the field of vine physiology, agricultural techniques and genetics. He is the author of numerous publications in national and international journals, as well as books, for which he has received numerous awards. He has collected almost 15,000 books on wine and his library is the heart of our winery.
Michele Scienza: a trained oenologist and biologist, he has been immersed in the world of wine since childhood and his dream has always been to be a winemaker. He built up experience and oenological sensitivity working both in the family business and elsewhere, before starting Guado al Melo in 1998-1999. He produced his first vintage as manager in 1990 at the age of 20 and hasn’t stopped since.
Annalisa Motta: After her PhD in plant biology, she changed course, deepening her knowledge of wine with a Master’s degree in Sensory Analysis and working in several wine laboratories until she started Guado al Melo. Over the years she has also become passionate about the study of the historical and cultural aspects of wine and created the Guado al Melo museum, with the support of Attilio. She tells stories about wine in the blog on this site.