• Contact: Pietro Zanoni
• Where: Quinzano (see map below)
• Website: www.pietrozanoni.it
• N. bottles produced / year: 20,000
• Vineyards: 6.6 ha (16.3 acres)
• Farming: sustainable, use of organic fertilizer
• Rooms or B&B: no

Story

Pietro Zanoni’s winery is located on the hills surrounding Verona (see map), in a beautiful location from where you can see the city. Zanoni family has been cultivating and producing wines of Valpolicella since the early 1900, but it’s in 1998 that Pietro Zanoni started to run the family business.

People

Pietro Zanoni is the present owner. His studies as a food technician and winemaker help him to manage all the processes of winemaking, with the help of his father. In the vineyards, his most valuable consultant is the agronomist Jgor Bonvento.

Vineyards

Being between the Classic part (the most historic one) of Valpolicella and the Eastern part of it, Pietro loves to describe himself as the “Hobbit winemaker of the Middle Earth”. He owns about 6.6 hectares in the appellation, divided in three properties: Avesa, Quinzano, Parona, all of them are very close to the city. Many of the vineyards (at 240m/s.l) have been newly replanted; the training system used is guyot with high planting density. The oldest plants are more than 30 years old, and the training system is Casarsa. The agronomic management is sustainable, with the use of organic fertilizer.

The soils are calcareous with clay and basaltic stones.

Winemaking

• Grape selection table: no
• Fluids processed by gravity: no
• Drying process: in house
• Type of drying process: only fans and windows
• Bottling: in the winery

Wines

• Valpolicella DOC
• Valpolicella DOC Superiore
• Valpolicella Ripasso DOC Superiore
• Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG
• Recioto della Valpolicella DOCG

Each of these wines is made exclusively with the grapes of their own vineyards, harvested manually and fermented with commercial yeasts. 

The aging is done in steel for the fresh Valpolicella and in French oak for the other wines.

• Stock of old vintages: yes
• Selling of old vintages: no

Export

Switzerland, France, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Sweden, USA (Michigan).

The wines we reviewed

The wines

• Valpolicella DOC 2009
• “Campo Denari" Valpolicella DOC Superiore 2009
• Amarone della Valpolicella DOC 2006

will be at the Terroir Amarone "Rare and Unusual Masterclass: Amarone and Valpolicella Superiore" - Montreux, Switzerland Hotel Suisse Majestic October 30, 2014, hosted by the Digital Wine Communications Conference.