Ever since 1821 the Zonin family has been linked with the cultivation of vines and the production of wine, but it was in 1921 that a real revolution began: Commendator Domenico Zonin set about developing his family’s lands and vineyards, thus creating ZONIN1821.

At the beginning of the 1960s there was another major turning point: Domenico – whose life straddled three centuries and two millennia (1899 – 2001) – was joined in the company by his nephew Gianni, who became President of the firm in 1967. The young President immediately set himself the goal of creating a world made up of vineyards and estates situated in Italy’s best quality Regions for wine production, so as to be able to guarantee the quality of the grapes and of the wine through direct and total control of the whole production process.

His dream started to become a reality in 1970, with the acquisition of Ca’ Bolani, in Friuli, the most famous Italian wine Region in the production of outstanding white wines. “I still remember when we bought Ca’ Bolani in Friuli - Gianni Zonin recounts - it was 1970 and there were some doubts in my family as to the wisdom of leaving the confines of our home region of the Veneto. But I was convinced of my idea: to produce really fine wines one has to own vineyards, selecting the best terroirs and the most typical grape varieties. So I went ahead with my plan”.

Subsequently the collection of wine estates was enriched with the purchase of other gems: first Castello di Albola (1979), which epitomizes the unmistakable aristocratic charm of Chianti Classico.

The following year Abbazia Monte Oliveto, a wine farm in San Gimignano, the homeland of Vernaccia, also became an integral part of this great project.

The family’s vineyard holdings then spread to Piedmont with the acquisition of Castello del Poggio (1985), in the very best area for the production of Asti and Barbera, and to Lombardy with the annexing of Tenuta Il Bosco (1987), a wine estate situated in the Oltrepò Pavese, a classic region for the legendary Pinot Nero.

MISSION. Our mission is to be known and written about for the quality and value of our wines by all customer segments. We want to be the global solution for Italian wine in the trade.

Study on grapes and vines, together with constant innovation and attention to market trends and market opportunities, allow ZONIN1821 to capitalize on the years of activity in the wine business and, at the same time, to open up to new challenges of globalization, sharing the following values within the company:

HERITAGE : seven generations of wine making tradition. Company managed by Gianni Zonin and his family.

COMMITMENT : the Zonin family owns their own vineyards, grows their own grapes and bottles their wines at each estate.

BREADTH : ZONIN1821 owns 9 wine estates located in 7 wine regions of Italy for a total of 4,000 hectares (9,884 acres) of properties, 2,000 (4,942 acres) of which are vine planted.

INVESTMENT : ZONIN1821 has installed state-of-the-art wine making equipment on each estate. Each ZONIN1821 winery has its own vinification, aging cellar and bottling facilities on site.

EXPERTISE : A staff of 32 professionals, one of the largest staff of enologists and agronomists in Europe.

ZONIN1821 is one of the most important italian wine producer and also one of the foremost worldwide. It is a business that has always been market-oriented and which distributes and markets still and sparkling wines under the Zonin label as well as those of the family’s Estates. ZONIN1821, whose portfolio includes 9 outstanding estates in Italy’s finest wine-producing Regions - a total of around 2000 hectares – as well as the splendid “Barboursville Vineyards” property in the heart of Virginia, is presided over by Cavaliere Gianni Zonin, one of the world’s greatest authorities on wine production who is recognized internationally as one of the undisputed leading figures in Italian wine.

A wide range of high-quality wines encompassing the most representative D.O.C.s and D.O.C.G.s, a distribution network covering over 100 countries around the world, the largest staff of oenologists and agronomists in Europe, quality, tradition and more than 190 years of history and passion for wine passed down from generation to generation: these are the key elements in the company’s success.
In important markets such as the United States and the United Kingdom, subsidiary import and distribution companies - Zonin USA and Zonin UK - have been set up in order to look after local sales and marketing; recently, too, shares have been bought in an importing and distribution company in Japan and further important investments of this type are planned in China and Brazil, up-and-coming markets for wine.