There is a city that in the common imagination is synonymous with mystery, romanticism, history, tradition, and culture. It is a city that has made water an ally, a means of survival, and a point of strength and supremacy. A city that boasts a history of dominance over the Adriatic Sea and the Aegean, as well as over the Triveneto and Lombardy, and has long controlled trade routes to the East, including the capture of Constantinople. A land with such political stability and social tranquility that it has earned the epithet of Most Serene. A place populated by merchants, sailors, and soldiers where one would not expect to find, among the lagoon Venetians, also some vine growers.
"The city of Venice, in St. Mark's Square, saw a large vineyard grow until 1100 A.D."
Yet the city of Venice, in its main square – that of Saint Mark – had a large vineyard that grew until 1100 AD. Upon reflection, this is the only open space in the city called "piazza", while all the others are named "campi" and "campielli", with a clear reference to subsistence agriculture, necessary and developed on every bit of land possible given that the urban environment was and is composed of 92% water. There are historical documents speaking of the wine consumed by the Doges and the nobles of Venice, which did not only come from trade and the nearby city of Soave, but also from local production. It was not uncommon to find gardens along the city routes, even along the streets named "calli", hence they were baptized accordingly, as was the case for "Calle della Malvasia" or "Riva del vin".
The recent historical rediscovery begins with one of the visits to the lagoon by a DOC – in fact, DOCG – Veneto producer named Gianluca Bisol, whose family has participated for generations in the birth, safeguarding, and enhancement of production in the Conegliano Valdobbiadene area with the company of the same name. Gianluca, noticing some vineyards in front of the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta in Torcello, decides to delve deeper into the research, discovering the great winemaking tradition of the Venetian islands, abruptly cut off by the acqua alta of 1966.
Agronomic analyses trace these vineyards back to an ancient variety of grape, a progenitor of the Garganega called Dorona di Venezia, and it is thanks to a team of experts that the last 88 surviving vines from that great acqua alta are recovered from the various islands.
Fortunately, the farming memory of Gastone, a farmer who produces small quantities of grapes for family consumption, leads Gianluca Bisol towards the knowledge of ancient winemaking techniques. In the lagoon, barrels were not used due to the scarcity of timber, and there were no underground aging cellars. The winemaking tradition speaks of long macerations on the skins that gave longevity to the Dorona.
"An ancient grape variety that is the progenitor of Garganega called Dorona di Venezia"
Thus, a project of vineyard archaeology is born, which sees another prominent Italian enologist alongside Gianluca: Roberto Cipresso. In a sort of wine-themed remake of Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park, Gianluca Bisol and Roberto Cipresso take the place of John Hammond and Alan Grant, identifying their Isla Nublar on the nearby Venetian island of Mazzorbo. The two fall in love with the "clos" surrounded by medieval walls watched over by a 14th-century bell tower and decide to replant the ancient grape variety there. They create a vineyard of just under one hectare, despite the high sodium content that the soil is saturated with and the obvious risk of high water that could jeopardize the vineyard. They are guests of the winery that, from the late 1800s until 1966, was owned by Augusto Scarpa, one of the first Italian enologists graduated from the Cerletti in Conegliano, the Enological School founded by Antonio Carpenè in 1876. The Cerletti marked a turning point in the world of enology, shaping wine producers from simple farmers and contributing to scientific experimentation through the crossings of the infamous Professor Manzoni.
John Hammond would respond with a smile: “Here, no expenses are spared!”
The company is called Venissa, a name that pays homage to Gianluca's fellow villager, Andrea Zanzotto, a poet from Pieve di Soligo who, in a stanza of his: Filò. For Fellini's Casanova, he refers to the Venetian city: “ah Venice, ah Venissa, ah Venùsia.”
In 2010, the first harvest begins, producing 4,880 bottles that bring the Dorona di Venezia to the most important cellars in the world.
Its flagship wine is enhanced by a label made with a leaf of beaten gold crafted by the Battiloro family, one of the very few Italian ones – and the only Venetian among the over 300 present in the Serenissima of the 1700s – left to carry on this ancient craft.
Can there be anything more mysterious, romantic, historical, traditional, and cultural than bringing to light something that is extinct? John Hammond would respond smiling: “Here, no expense is spared!”