They called him, and still call him, the most French of Italians--to everyone, Engineer Zamuner. In that middle land between Verona and Lake Garda that would answer to the Custoza doc, it took an engineer to give us a little glimpse of Champagne.
This was Daniele Zamuner, a visionary engineer who loved wine or rather…Champagne. It was the 1970s when the engineer went to France on business and began to come to terms with an all-French custom of drinking bubbly wines with the entire meal. That wine was Champagne, evidently; wine whose charm Daniele Zamuner was so fascinated by that with each trip he began to mature more and more in the idea of making a kind of “Italian Champagne.”
Inherited from the Fields family, no doubt about it, they would be vined to make a classic method…it only remained to be figured out how. Accomplicated by his wife, a French teacher, they traveled to France again, literally rang the bell of the Enological Institute and had the secrets of how to make excellent Champagne revealed to them. This story has the unbelievable, yet it is all true. Upon returning to Italy, soil analysis and land study followed; and it was here that the real breakthrough came. The portion of the moraine hills where the vineyards would arise had limestone veins perfect for growing Pinot Noir and Meunier as well as (already present in the area) Chardonnay. Here the magical trio from France began to materialize in Sona, halfway between the city of Verona and Lake Garda.
The memory of engineer Zamuner, who died prematurely, is vivid not only in the memory and eyes of his daughter Alessandra, now at the helm of the winery, but also in the memories of all the people who knew him, personally or through his wines. And that’s how I got to know him, too, with full glasses, bubble after bubble.
But what wines are we talking about?
We certainly cannot talk about Champagne, woe betide to ape the French! This is the engineer’s first, and inescapable, recommendation. But the inspiration is strong and the appeal immediate. The engineer’s modus operandi is that the red grape varieties are strictly and only vinified in white; we have to wait for Gabriella, the “strategic wife,” to come along and put her hand to it to get a rosé. About 40,000 bottles a year, varying with the season. All vintage. The Zamuner style involves long, very long, bottle aging on the lees. Trademark is definitely the Meunier. Great importance is also attached to the date of disgorgement, declared on the back label, which is a veritable identity card for the wine. Wonderful expressions still complex and fragrant a year after disgorgement are the wines you will taste in the cellar. To the creative flair of each sommelier, restaurateur or consumer experiment with more extreme refinements.
Joining the winery in 2016, two years later with the 2018 vintage, Alessandra, too, puts her own spin on it and politely and quietly signs the latest label born in the Zamuner Family. Cuvée Alessandra is blanc de noirs, the first zero dosage for the winery, with “only” three years on the lees. A very fine bubble, brilliant reflections, citrus notes and savoriness on the palate. If this Cuvée is synonymous with a lightheartedness that Alessandra had the courage to imprint in this wine, the most surprising label of all (yes, even more than the legendary Daniele Zamuner Reserve or Riserva Rosé, both with more than 10 years on the lees) is the Demi Sec. I can’t exactly reveal everything about this wine. But once again the story of its birth may be a chapter in the novel that this company has been writing over the years.
It all began when Zamuner wine became part of a cocktail. Mixed the result was appealing but slightly sweet for the engineer’s taste. So, pondering this umpteenth project, inspired by the bartender who created the cocktail, he began to study a demi sec label. 30 g/l sugar and the use of a very particular liqueur in the liquer d’expedition. Memorable, I assure you … it has become one of my favorite sparkling wines because it is the perfect, and never trite, combination of gluttony and depth.
Knowing the history of Zamuner wines and tasting them time after time is always incredible. No one would ever have bet it all (the winery makes no other wines) on a metodo classico from that middle land between town and lake that would answer to the Custoza doc but in which, it took an engineer, today we can catch a small glimpse of Champagne.
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