Zenato wines are born from a vision, and a family united by a shared dream. Produced in a country where wine is a passion, their tastes and aromas are said to inspire emotion and create unique memories. Try them and discover for yourself.
The tale of Zenato is the story of a family with roots firmly planted in the land that surrounds them and made possible thanks to the passion and entrepreneurial vision of the estate’s founder, Sergio Zenato.
With hard work and perseverance, he has managed to fulfill his greatest dream: to create a winery capable of harvesting the fruits of the earth and transforming them into wines filled with emotions and matchless flavour. Today, more than 60 years after Zenato was founded, the wines they produce are a testament to Sergio’s extraordinary vision and the support of his wife Carla and their two children Alberto and Nadia.
This prestigious wine producer is located in the Veneto region of northeast Italy, surrounded by rolling hills covered in the straight lines of row upon row of verdant grapevines. Described as the soul of Lugana and the Heart of Valpolicella, the Zenato estate occupies 95 hectares of the best vineyards to be found in the “classic zones” of the Lugana and Valpolicella regions, famed for their Amarone della Valpolicella style of wines.
With two faces, one white, the other red, Zenato produces premium-quality wines that are born through a visceral passion for the land, through respect for time, and through a family tradition that has championed local grape varieties for 60 years. Their story stretches from the banks of Lake Garda to the hills of nearby Valpolicella where the estate’s reds are born from the sunfilled vineyards of Corvina and Rondinella in Costalunga in the Sant’ Ambrogio commune.
Corvina and Rondinella grape varietals are the two signature grapes used in the production of the Amarone della Valpolicella style of wines. The Amarone Classico wines are made at the Costalunga estate at Sant' Ambrogio di Valpolicella using grapes that are dried for up to four months before fermentation and 36 months ageing in oak barrels. The estate’s flagship Riserva Sergio Zenato is made from grapes that are dried in a single layer on trays, then aged in 7,500-litre Slavonian casks for 48 months. Both wines are blends with predominantly Corvina grapes, with smaller portions of Rondinella and Oseleta, a very rare and sought-after grape style only found in this Venato region of Italy.
The Cresasso, also made at the Costalunga estate, is a singlevineyard varietal Corvina that comes under the Veronese IGT designation. The grapes from this wine are picked in two phases -the first is dried for two months, and the second is over-ripened on the vine then fermented in stainless steel. The two parts are then blended and aged in French oak casks for 24 months. As well as the Cresasso, the Costalunga estate makes other styles of wine including a Recioto, a Ripasso, a Valpolicella Classico Superiore and the Cormì Veneto IGT, made from Corvina and Merlot.
Saddled between Lombardy and Veneto, one of the most original viticultural areas in all of Europe, Zenato's other estate, Santa Cristina in San Benedetto di Lugana, has 75 hectares (185 acres) of vineyards. With a unique climate, tempered by the body of water known in antiquity as Lake Benacus, the estate produces Pas Dosé and a Brut Metodo Classico sparkling wine, as well as the Lugano San Benedetto from Trebbiano di Lugana (or Verdicchio), both under the Zenato banner.
The Santa Cristina range also includes Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, a passito, a grappa and olive oil. The Lugana Riserva Sergio Zenato, also made from Trebbiano di Lugana, tops the Lugana range. To complete their spectacular portfolio of wines, the Zenato family also produce a Bardolino red and Bardolino Chiaretto (rosé).
Thanks to one man’s vision, the Zenato portfolio are wines of character and an authentic expression of the region's distinctive terroir; from a magical place, a world unto itself, capable of inspiring emotion and creating unique memories. As an expression of the soul, in a dimension suspended between sound, aroma, texture, and colours, these are undoubtedly some of the finest wines produced in all of Italy.
