Italy · Garda & Lugana (Brescia/Mantova shore)

Zenato

Zenato is a family estate in Veneto with two working properties: Santa Cristina on the clay shores of Lake Garda, where Trebbiano di Lugana produces mineral white wine, and Costalunga in the Valpolicella Classico hills, where indigenous red varieties at 450 metres become Ripassa and Amarone.

The producer

Zenato makes wine from two landscapes with almost nothing in common. Santa Cristina sits on the flat clay shore of Lake Garda in the Lugana appellation, where Trebbiano di Lugana (also called Turbiana) grows on mineral-heavy glacial soils shaped by retreating ice. Costalunga stands in the Valpolicella Classico hills above Verona, at 450 metres, on Jurassic limestone and Terra Rossa stone. Sergio Zenato founded the estate in 1960, beginning with Lugana when the appellation was commercially overlooked, then building Costalunga from undeveloped hillside in Sant'Ambrogio, terrace by dry-stone terrace.

The second generation now divides the business: Nadia Zenato leads sales and marketing, Alberto Zenato oversees production. The range runs from a mineral lake-plain white through Valpolicella Classico Superiore to Ripassa, the estate's ripasso wine made by refermentation on Amarone grape skins, and up to Amarone della Valpolicella Classico. Ripassa is the bottle most widely associated with the Zenato name outside Italy, and the wine made by refermentation on Amarone grape skins.

Known for

Lugana white from Trebbiano di Lugana; Ripassa Valpolicella Superiore; Amarone della Valpolicella Classico

Notable facts

The story

The Lake Garda Bet

In 1960, when Sergio Zenato began farming in Lugana, the Trebbiano di Lugana grape was largely unknown outside the immediate shoreline of Lake Garda. The appellation had no meaningful market, no critical following and no commercial argument in its favour beyond the quality of the soils and the moderating presence of the lake. Sergio and Carla founded the estate anyway, planted the clay plains of Santa Cristina with Trebbiano di Lugana, and bottled under the family name at a time when the region's other growers were selling in bulk and moving on. The wine trade's indifference to Lugana was precisely the condition that made a serious family estate possible there: no competition, low land prices, and an entire appellation available to those willing to wait for the market to catch up. It did.

Farming Before the Appellation

When Sergio and Carla Zenato planted Turbiana at Santa Cristina in 1960, the Lugana DOC had not yet been created. The zone was a geographical area before it was a legal category — a strip of dense clay along the southern shore of Lake Garda where a Trebbiano biotype grew better than it did almost anywhere else in northern Italy. There was no formal framework distinguishing these wines from the broad mass of northern Italian white Trebbiano production. Sergio chose the site on the strength of the soil and the grape alone. He named the estate after the Santa Cristina vineyard and sold wine from it without a DOC to print on the label. When the Lugana designation was formally established later in the decade, the bottles at Santa Cristina gained an appellation they could legally claim. The estate was already there, already farming the same clay, already bottling the same grape.

From the atlas

Zenato

At A Glance

Estate: Zenato Country: Italy Region: Veneto Appellations: Lugana DOC; Valpolicella Classico DOC Grapes: Trebbiano di Lugana (Turbiana); Corvina Veronese, Rondinella, Croatina, Oseleta Estates: Santa Cristina (San Benedetto di Lugana); Costalunga (Sant'Ambrogio di Valpolicella) Winemaker: Alberto Zenato Hectares: 95

The Producer

Zenato is a family estate in Veneto making wine from two landscapes with almost nothing in common. Santa Cristina sits on the flat clay shore of Lake Garda in the Lugana appellation, where a single white grape, Trebbiano di Lugana, grows on mineral-heavy glacial soils shaped by retreating ice. Costalunga stands forty kilometres east in the Valpolicella Classico hills above Verona, at 450 metres, on Jurassic limestone and Terra Rossa stone.

Sergio Zenato founded the estate in 1960 with his wife Carla. His early focus was Lugana, then a commercially overlooked lakeside appellation. He subsequently acquired land in Sant'Ambrogio, one of the five villages in the Valpolicella Classico zone, and built Costalunga from undeveloped hillside. The second generation now divides the business: Nadia Zenato leads sales and marketing, Alberto Zenato oversees production.

Place

Lugana is a DOC appellation on the southern shore of Lake Garda, split between Lombardy and Veneto. The lake functions as a thermal buffer: it moderates winter cold and summer heat, keeping the growing season long enough for Trebbiano di Lugana to ripen slowly and retain natural acidity. The grape has a local synonym, Turbiana, and is the only variety permitted for Lugana DOC white wine. These two names refer to the same grape.

Valpolicella Classico is the historic heart of the Valpolicella appellation, covering five designated villages in the hills west of Verona. Sant'Ambrogio is one of those five. At altitude, the growing season is cool enough to preserve the bright fruit and firm acidity that underpin the Valpolicella range. The hillside position also determines the winemaking options: drying, which concentrates sugars and tannins, works at Costalunga in a way it could not at the flat lake estate.

Soil And Site

Santa Cristina occupies a natural bowl of rolling terrain in San Benedetto di Lugana. The soils formed during the glacial period: deep clays laden with mineral deposits that retain moisture through dry spells and give Trebbiano di Lugana its characteristic weight and textural presence in the glass. Forty hectares of vines grow on this clay and mineral ground.

Costalunga reaches 450 metres in the Sant'Ambrogio hills. The soils are calcium- and mineral-rich, built from stratified Jurassic sedimentary rock beneath a surface layer of local red soil and Terra Rossa stones. Sergio Zenato commissioned dry-stone walls to terrace the 35-hectare slope, and these walls still regulate the vines' access to air, water and warmth across the growing season.

Story

Sergio Zenato began in 1960 with a bet on Lugana. At that point, the Trebbiano di Lugana grape had no significant market outside the region and the appellation carried none of the commercial weight that would come later. He planted seriously anyway, bottled under the family name, and built Santa Cristina into a working estate.

The Valpolicella move followed as a deliberate expansion rather than an accidental one. Sergio acquired land in Sant'Ambrogio and physically built Costalunga, terrace by terrace, into a hillside vineyard. The dry-stone walls he had constructed are still there. The range he established at Costalunga, from Valpolicella Classico Superiore through ripasso to Amarone, is what the second generation inherited and now manages. Nadia and Alberto did not inherit an outline; they inherited two fully formed estates in working order.

The expansion into Bolgheri, on the Tuscan coast, came later and extended the estate beyond Veneto. The core business, the wines most associated with the Zenato name outside Italy, remains the Lugana white and the Valpolicella red range.

Vineyards And Cellar

Zenato plants indigenous varieties at high density across both estates. Grapes are harvested by hand. At Santa Cristina, Trebbiano di Lugana draws on the clay soils' natural moisture retention, which supports slow, even ripening and produces wines with body and mineral weight rather than the lean, neutral character of thin-soil whites.

At Costalunga, the Amarone grapes undergo appassimento: after harvest, the fruit is laid out to dry slowly, concentrating sugars, colour and tannin before fermentation. The resulting wine ferments to near dryness at high alcohol, with deeply extracted dried-fruit character. Ripassa uses the dried grape skins left over from Amarone production: base Valpolicella wine referments on those skins, picking up additional weight, dried-fruit flavour and tannin in a process called ripasso. The general ageing protocol for Ripassa runs 18 to 20 months in French oak.

Wines

The range spans two appellations and four wine categories.

Lugana DOC (Santa Cristina): A single white wine from Trebbiano di Lugana on clay soils. The grape produces medium-bodied white wine with a mineral edge, gentle almond and citrus character, and the textural weight the clay ground builds in. Acidity stays sharp because of the lake's moderating climate. This is a white that holds its shape across a meal rather than fading mid-table.

Valpolicella Classico Superiore (Costalunga): The entry red from the hillside estate. Indigenous Valpolicella varieties at 450 metres produce red cherry fruit, dried herb aromatics and a firm, grippy finish. Relatively light in body compared with the wines above it in the range.

Ripassa Valpolicella Superiore (Costalunga): The mid-range red and the estate's most widely distributed wine. Made by the ripasso method: Valpolicella wine referments on Amarone grape skins, adding body, darker fruit, tobacco notes and tannin. The result sits between Valpolicella Classico and Amarone in weight and density. Aged 18 to 20 months in French oak. The 2021 vintage spent 18 months in French Allier tonneaux followed by six months in bottle. Corvina Veronese forms the dominant variety in the blend.

Amarone della Valpolicella Classico (Costalunga): The prestige red. Grapes dry for months before fermentation, concentrating everything: colour, tannin, dried fruit, tobacco, chocolate and leather. The 2020 blend is 85 percent Corvina Veronese, 10 percent Rondinella, and 5 percent Croatina and Oseleta. Full, warm, and built to age.

In The Glass

The Lugana opens with white stone fruit and a faint almond note, then settles into a round, mineral mid-palate that the clay soils produce consistently. The finish is clean and carries a gentle saline edge. Acidity is present without sharpness.

The Valpolicella Classico Superiore is lighter on its feet: red cherry, dried herbs, and firm tannin on a relatively lean frame. It delivers more than its price level suggests.

Ripassa is where the estate's method becomes most legible. The base wine takes on weight and dark fruit from its contact with dried Amarone skins, and the oak adds a tobacco note that knits with the fruit rather than covering it. The mouth-feel is fuller than a standard Valpolicella, with tannins that are firm but not harsh, and a long, warming finish.

Amarone arrives with dried cherry, dark chocolate, tobacco and leather, all at elevated concentration. The tannins are dense and the alcohol is high. This is a wine that needs food or time in the cellar, and often both.

A Bottle To Understand It

Ripassa Valpolicella Superiore is the right first bottle. It is a Valpolicella-appellation red made by refermentation on dried Amarone grape skins, which gives it more body, darker fruit and firmer tannin than the Classico Superiore, at a fraction of the price of the Amarone. In the glass it delivers dried cherry, tobacco and dark plum on a full, warm frame, with oak-derived texture and a long finish. Start here.

Anecdote

In 1960, when Sergio Zenato began farming in Lugana, the Trebbiano di Lugana grape was largely unknown outside the immediate shoreline of Lake Garda. The appellation had no meaningful market, no critical following and no real commercial argument in its favour. Sergio and Carla founded the estate anyway, planted the clay plains of Santa Cristina with Trebbiano di Lugana, and bottled under the family name at a time when the region's other growers were selling in bulk and moving on. The wine trade's indifference to Lugana was precisely the condition that made a serious family estate possible there: no competition, low land prices, and an entire appellation available to those willing to wait for the market to catch up. It did.

Final Word

Zenato is a two-estate operation with a clear internal logic: lake plain for mineral white, limestone hillside for red. The Lugana and the Ripassa are the bottles that define the estate's position, one on each side of the Veneto map. Both are made from indigenous varieties on soils the family chose and farmed for more than six decades. The second generation inherited a fully working system and has kept it running in the same direction.

Sources

Open Zenato in the interactive map →