Monte Zovo

The story

The Altitude Search

In 2000, Diego Cottini drove east from Caprino Veronese into the hills beyond the Illasi and Mezzane valleys. He was not simply looking for more Valpolicella. He was looking for altitude. The Valpolicella zone had expanded its geographic boundaries over the decades, absorbing flatland parcels that the classic producers of the Classico heartland considered inferior. Diego went the other direction: higher, with better ventilation, on hillside ground at the edge of the Monti Lessini national park. He bought the land, named it Marnebianche, and built a drying facility at 1,650 feet, high enough that the autumn air moving off the hills keeps the harvested Corvina bunches cool and dry during the months-long appassimento process. The facility still stands there, and the Amarone that comes down from it carries that altitude in its fruit.

From the atlas

Monte Zovo

At A Glance

Producer: Monte Zovo (Cottini family) Country: Italy Region: Veneto Appellations: Valpolicella DOC, Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG, Lugana DOC Key Grapes: Corvina (Valpolicella), Turbiana (Lugana) Estates: Anfiteatro (Caprino Veronese), Marnebianche (Eastern Valpolicella), Le Civaie (Sirmione) Certifications: Biodiversity Friend

The Producer

Carlo Cottini planted vines alongside cherry, plum, and apricot trees in Valpolicella in 1925. Wine was one crop among several. His son Raffaello changed that: in the 1950s Raffaello specialised in winemaking and built a cellar at Fumane, in the Valpolicella heartland. In 1965 the family moved its cellar to Caprino Veronese, a town at the foot of Monte Baldo in what independent sources describe as the Morainic Amphitheater of Rivoli Veronese, a landscape shaped by ancient glacial deposits on the northern fringe of the Veneto plain.

The estate continued in that form until 1998, when Diego Cottini, Carlo's grandson and the third generation, chose a different direction. In 1998, Diego Cottini created Montezovo. Two years later he went further, acquiring land in Eastern Valpolicella in deliberate search of higher altitude. A decade after that, in 2010, he acquired 30 hectares near Sirmione on the southern shore of Lake Garda, founding the Le Civaie estate for Lugana DOC production. Diego now works alongside his wife Annalberta and their sons Michele and Mattia, the fourth generation.

Place

Monte Zovo operates across two geographically separate zones. The Valpolicella properties sit in the hills northeast of Verona. The main cellar at Caprino Veronese anchors the operation, while the Marnebianche estate in Eastern Valpolicella occupies the ridgeline between the Illasi and Mezzane valleys, at the edge of the Monti Lessini national park. These are hillside parcels with altitude and ventilation, conditions suited to Corvina, the dominant red grape of Valpolicella, and to the appassimento drying process that produces Amarone and Recioto.

The Le Civaie estate near Sirmione is a different world. The southern shore of Lake Garda is limestone and glacial moraine, flat rather than hilly, and the grape there is Turbiana, the local white variety also called Trebbiano di Lugana. The lake moderates temperature, extending the growing season and keeping acidity in the grape. The consequence on the label is a white wine appellation, Lugana DOC, with none of the dried-grape concentration that defines the Valpolicella reds.

Soil And Site

At Caprino Veronese the surrounding landscape is morainic, built from glacial deposits left when ice retreated from the Alpine foothills. The Marnebianche estate lies between two valley systems, Illasi and Mezzane, on hillside ground that rises high enough to provide the ventilation needed for the appassimento drying facility, which sits at roughly 1,650 feet (500 metres). At Le Civaie near Sirmione the soils shift to the calcareous and alluvial material typical of the Lake Garda shoreline. The cellar at Caprino Veronese is built into the hill slope, using local natural materials and a gravity-flow layout that moves fruit and wine from top to bottom without mechanical pumping.

Story

The Cottini arc runs from subsistence diversity to focused winemaking across four generations. Carlo farmed fruit trees alongside vines in 1925. Raffaello chose wine and built a proper cellar. The move to Caprino Veronese in 1965 shifted the operation physically to the edge of the hills above the Garda moraine, a position that would later prove relevant to the estate's geographic expansion.

In 1998, Diego Cottini created Montezovo. The Monte Zovo name arrived with a new commercial focus, and Diego spent the following decade building the three-estate configuration that now defines the producer. The Eastern Valpolicella acquisition in 2000 was explicit about its motivation: altitude. The Sirmione acquisition in 2010 added a third appellation and a second grape type, pulling the range in a direction Raffaello's cellar at Fumane would not have anticipated. Michele and Mattia now carry the farming and commercial work into a fourth generation, with the certifications and research affiliations their father accumulated: Biodiversity Friend status, membership of the 35-winery Wine Research Team advancing sustainable viticulture, and energy generation from photovoltaic panels and biomass boilers at the Caprino Veronese site.

Vineyards And Cellar

Monte Zovo farms its own parcels across all three estates and manages each stage from vine to bottle without outside sourcing. The estate applies innovative, sustainable agronomic practices to protect biodiversity and minimize synthetic inputs, a commitment the estate formalises through its Biodiversity Friend certification. The cellar at Caprino Veronese is built into the hillside, using the slope gradient to move fruit downward through reception, fermentation, and ageing in sequence, avoiding the need for mechanical pumping at each transfer. Rainwater is harvested and packaging is chosen for lower environmental impact.

At Marnebianche, the drying facility at 1,650 feet is the production detail that most directly shapes the wine. Appassimento, the controlled drying of harvested grapes on wooden racks over weeks or months, reduces water content and concentrates sugars and flavour compounds before fermentation. Corvina, the main grape, dries well at this altitude, where cool temperatures and good air movement prevent mould and allow slow, even dehydration. The result feeds the Amarone tier of the range.

Wines

The range divides by geography and method. From the Valpolicella estates, the appellation ladder runs from Valpolicella DOC at the base through Valpolicella Superiore, then Ripasso, and up to Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG and Recioto della Valpolicella at the dried-grape summit. Corvina leads each blend, as it does across Valpolicella. At the base level, the wine is fresh, light-bodied, and high in acidity, with the tart cherry character Corvina delivers when fermented without drying. Ripasso wines add body and dried-fruit depth by refermentation over Amarone lees or dried grape skins. Amarone carries the full weight of appassimento: fermented dry from grapes that have lost a significant proportion of their water weight, it produces a full-bodied red with concentrated fruit, firm tannin, and the warmth of elevated alcohol. Recioto is the sweet counterpart, fermented to retain residual sugar.

From Le Civaie near Sirmione, Lugana DOC is a white wine built on Turbiana, a grape with firm acidity and a savoury, mineral character. At this latitude, the Lake Garda climate gives the grape a long growing season and cool nights that keep freshness in the fruit. The wine typically shows pale gold in the glass, with citrus, white blossom, and an almond note on the finish that distinguishes Turbiana from the more neutral Italian whites it is sometimes filed alongside.

In The Glass

Valpolicella at base level lifts quickly from the glass: red cherry, a hint of dried herb. Ripasso adds a layer of dried cherry and leather, with more body and a slightly grippy tannin edge from the second fermentation contact. Amarone is the most demanding pour: deep ruby, with figs, dark cherry, tobacco, and the specific sweetness of glycerol that comes from concentrated dried-grape fermentation, balanced by tannin firm enough to age a decade or more without softening. Recioto shares much of Amarone's aromatic depth but closes sweet on the palate, with enough acidity from the Corvina to keep the sugar from feeling heavy.

Lugana from Le Civaie reads differently from the first pour: lighter in colour, leaner in body, and driven by the bright acidity of Turbiana, one of the more food-adaptable Italian whites. The citrus and white-flower aromas are clean without being delicate, and the almond finish gives the wine a textural interest that holds through a meal.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with the Lugana DOC from Le Civaie. It is one grape, one zone, one appellation, and it shows how clearly the geography of this estate divides between its two wine worlds. Turbiana grown on the calcareous ground near Sirmione makes a dry white with firm acidity, pale citrus fruit, and a mineral, slightly savoury finish. It is not a complex wine, but it is an honest one, and it demonstrates something specific about Monte Zovo: that the estate built its range around geographic logic rather than stylistic convenience. The 30 hectares Diego acquired near Sirmione in 2010 belong to Lake Garda, not to Valpolicella, and the wine reflects exactly that separation.

Anecdote

In 2000, Diego Cottini drove east from Caprino Veronese into the hills beyond the Illasi and Mezzane valleys. He was not looking for more Valpolicella in the straightforward sense. He was looking for altitude. The Valpolicella zone had expanded its geographic boundaries over the decades, taking in flatland parcels that the classic producers of the Classico heartland considered inferior. Diego went the other direction: higher, with better ventilation, on hillside ground at the edge of the Monti Lessini national park. He bought the land, named it Marnebianche, and built a drying facility at 1,650 feet, high enough that the autumn air moving off the hills keeps the harvested Corvina bunches cool and dry during the months-long appassimento process. The facility still stands there, and the Amarone that comes down from it carries the altitude in its fruit.

Final Word

Monte Zovo is a producer built through deliberate geographic expansion rather than inherited appellation position. The Cottini family spent decades in Caprino Veronese before Diego chose altitude in the east and then lake-shore limestone in the south. The three-estate configuration now gives the range a clear logic: hillside red wines in the Valpolicella tradition, including dried-grape Amarone, and a white wine from Turbiana on the Garda shore. First-time Biodiversity Friend certification and membership of the Wine Research Team indicate a farming philosophy that goes beyond compliance. The range rewards tasting in sequence from Lugana through to Amarone: the geography of each bottle becomes readable once the distance between Sirmione and the Mezzane valley ridge is understood.

Sources

• https://www.montezovo.com/en/family/
• https://www.montezovo.com/en/sustainability/
• https://www.vinotravelsitaly.com/2023/10/Monte-Zovo-Valpolicella-wines.html
• https://www.winalist.co.uk/hosts/906/monte-zovo