Why it matters
The producer
Zanasi Società Agricola S.S. farms vineyards in the foothills and hills of the Modena Apennines and makes all its wine from its own grapes. The estate is based at Località Cavidole in Castelnuovo Rangone, a village in the province of Modena where the land climbs away from the Po plain toward the first ridges of the Apennines. Marco Zanasi runs the operation today with his wife Mara, drawing on the methods and priorities his grandfather Bruno established over decades of building the estate. Marco's brother Matteo works in finance but contributes to the family business alongside him.
The fourth generation of a family that has made wine here since 1900, Zanasi occupies a specific corner of Emilia-Romagna: not the flat, fog-prone lowlands associated with mass-produced Lambrusco, but the hillside terrain above Modena where the soils carry clay and sand and the vines face east into the morning sun.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Castelnuovo Rangone sits in the province of Modena, where the Apennines begin their rise south of the Po valley. Zanasi's vineyards climb into that hillside country, positioned in the foothills and lower hills rather than on the plain. Eastern exposure means the vines receive morning sun and cooling afternoon shade, a pattern that slows ripening and holds acidity in the grapes through the growing season.
Lambrusco di Sorbara is a DOC centred on the Sorbara plain to the north of Modena, an area whose flat, alluvial character differs from the Apennine foothill terrain where Zanasi farms. The estate's Ca' Vedole label carries the Lambrusco di Sorbara name, and Vin Journalen confirms Zanasi as its producer.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Zanasi's vineyard management is built around controlling vine output at the source. Short pruning limits the number of buds left on each vine after winter cuts, which directly reduces the number of clusters each plant carries through the growing season. Fewer clusters means the vine concentrates its energy into a smaller crop, sharpening fruit concentration and ripeness at harvest.
Between the vine rows, the estate maintains a grass cover rather than bare cultivated soil. The grass sustains the microbial life and small fauna in the topsoil, competing with the vines for surface moisture and pushing roots deeper. All grapes used are estate-grown, and the family monitors the full cycle from vine care and harvest through vinification, storage, ageing and bottling.
Wines to know
The range in view
Ca' Vedole Lambrusco di Sorbara is the confirmed wine in the estate's range with a named grape identification. It is a sparkling red made from Lambrusco di Sorbara, the variety historically grown across the Sorbara plain northwest of Modena. The wine is violet-red in colour. On the nose it gives cherry and fresh red fruit. On the palate the fruit sits in a dry to off-dry register with lively acidity that keeps the wine from feeling heavy or sweet-toned. The mousse is present without dominating the fruit.
No further grape varieties or labels are confirmed.