The Art of Listening to a Place
In my series “Remarkable Women in Wine”, which began with Pravis Power and the sisters Giulia and Erika Pedrini, continued with Kathrin Puff, oenologist at Kloster Eberbach, and then the southern French trio Catherine Huguenin, Élodie Gassiolle and Estelle Roy, I now turn my attention to Elena Pantaleoni.
There are women winemakers who “reinvent” an estate. Elena Pantaleoni has achieved something even more difficult: she has allowed La Stoppa to sound once again the way this place speaks for itself. The fact that she has received renewed international recognition since autumn 2025 — Bvlgari Hotels & Resorts includes La Stoppa on a permanent list of 22 Italian women winemakers, “Le Donne Eroiche del Vino Biologico” — is merely the external occasion for this portrait. The deeper reason is this: Pantaleoni’s wine is culture and ethics, not posturing.
When Elena Pantaleoni was gradually introduced to the task of running La Stoppa in the early 1990s, she was never interested in staging a grand “new beginning” stamped with her personal signature at any cost. Rather the opposite: she possessed the quiet ability to take a place seriously before attempting to explain it. La Stoppa lies in the Colli Piacentini near Rivergaro, in the Trebbiola Valley close to the Trebbia River. The historic estate, whose roots date back to the end of the 19th century, had for many years been sustained more by its name than by a contemporary vision.
Pantaleoni speaks — and works — like someone who does not regard herself as an inventor, but as a custodian. The estate comprises around 58 hectares, only about 30 hectares of which are planted with vines; the remainder consists of woodland and natural areas. This proportion is no coincidence, but part of her philosophy: wine does not emerge in a vacuum, but within a landscape that is far more than merely a production area.
Where the Vines Belong
Consistently and with determination, a decision was made that proved uncomfortable for many wineries in the 1990s: to move away from the reflex of producing wines designed to taste internationally “compatible”, and instead turn towards grape varieties that belong here. Since then, La Stoppa has placed a strong emphasis on Barbera and Bonarda/Croatina for its red wines, as well as local white varieties such as Malvasia di Candia Aromatica and Ortrugo. This is not nostalgic traditionalism, but identity politics in the best sense: a wine should not seek to prove that it could have been made anywhere in the world, but that it could only have been made precisely here.
For Pantaleoni, organic farming is not an image-building exercise, but a minimum standard. La Stoppa works organically and explicitly refers to its certification. Interviews make clear that the transition began early on as a practical approach. What matters most is the thinking behind it: respect for the life of the soil is inseparably linked to respect for the people whose work sustains it. Pantaleoni’s ethics do not end with the label.
All of this results in a cellar philosophy that has no desire to be “loud”: spontaneous fermentation, time, patience and — typically La Stoppa — a confident use of extended skin contact, placing texture and depth ahead of superficial aromatic sweetness. Anyone wishing to understand how Pantaleoni thinks about wine need not stare at the label, but should look at the portfolio: Macchiona is made from equal parts Barbera and Bonarda and undergoes around 40 days of skin contact, developing into a red wine that does not aspire to be polished, but truthful. Trebbiolo (Barbera/Bonarda) has a shorter maceration period of around 20 days and presents its fruit in a tauter, more vivid way. And Ageno, named after the founder, is the estate’s signature white wine — 100% Malvasia di Candia Aromatica, with four months on the skins, carried by structure and by the patience to allow a white wine to tell its story through long maceration and texture — provided it carries its terroir within it.
Not a Trend, but Consistency
The fact that Elena Pantaleoni is now regarded as one of the influential voices in the Italian wine scene also reflects a change she herself describes: women are becoming more visible, not as a “variation” within a male-dominated world, but as defining authors of their own stylistic identities. In her case, this does not sound like a slogan, but like the expression of practical experience: the ability to listen, to observe precisely, to remain patient and to make decisions that correspond to the identity of the land. That is precisely where the modernity of La Stoppa lies: not in following trends, but in consistency.
Key facts:
• La Stoppa, Colli Piacentini (Rivergaro/Val Trebbiola), historic estate dating back to the late 19th century
• 58 hectares in total, around 30 hectares under vine, with a large proportion of woodland/natural areas
• Certified organic farming, with a focus on manual work and low intervention
• Key wines: Ageno (skin-macerated white wine), Macchiona and Trebbiolo (Barbera/Bonarda)
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Photo Credit: Elena Pantaleoni/La Stoppa
