Italy’s Pasqua Seeing U.S. Investments Pay Off
October 29, 2025Verona, Italy-based winery Pasqua has invested heavily in the U.S. market in recent years, and the company has seen its efforts pay off, with the Pasqua brand recently earning Impact “Hot Prospect” honors after reaching 64,000 cases on 15% growth last year. Globally, Pasqua’s revenues grew 6% to €63.5 million ($74m) last year, with the U.S. market largely propelling its gains.
Imported by New York-based Pasqua USA, the brand portfolio includes a range of different styles and price points, across wines such as Mai Dire Mai Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG ($120), Famiglia Pasqua Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG ($55), PassioneSentimento Rosso Veneto IGT Romeo & Juliet ($18), Hey French You Could Have Made This But You Didn’t Bianco Veneto IGT ($45), and 11 Minutes Rosé Trevenezie IGT ($20).
Pasqua has leveraged eye-catching labels and novel wine styles to differentiate its brand, such as a leaner, drier style of Amarone for Mai dire Mai, and a non-vintage grape blend and graffiti-inspired label for Hey French. “The wines generating growth are all from incredible terroirs, but they’re all wines that have their own rules and are for one reason or another unconventional,” says CEO Riccardo Pasqua. “Over the past 10 years we’ve doubled revenues, with half the volume we used to produce.”
While its home base is in the Veneto, Pasqua has branched out to other Italian regions, including Puglia with the Desire Lush & Zin label, as well as Sicily. Most recently, the company took a 70% stake in Sangue d’Oro, the estate founded by actress Carole Bouquet on the island of Pantelleria, located south of Sicily. The brand’s Passito di Pantelleria DOC wine is made from 70-year-old Zibibbo vines and sells at $110.
Pasqua also recently struck a deal with Washington winemaker Charles Smith, whose House of Smith wines it now represents internationally, and became a partner in Smith’s new Real Wine brand, which touts minimal intervention and includes a Cabernet and Chardonnay retailing at $20. Pasqua says there’s a natural affinity between Smith’s boldly styled wines and labels and those of the Pasqua portfolio.
The family-owned Pasqua is capping 100 years in business this year, with its executive team led by Riccardo as CEO, his brother Alessandro as chairman of Pasqua USA, and youngest brother Andrea as the recently appointed head of business development. “Our mission with our House of the Unconventional is to blink an eye toward younger generations,” Riccardo says. “We’re working to contribute toward making wine aspirational. We believe this is an avenue that plays well with our values and our vision. It’s elevated, full of culture and craftsmanship, but at the same time about creating an experience.”—Daniel Marsteller
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