Historical Venetian Wine To Be Released Next Week

There once was a time that wine was more or less the only beverage available. Espcially in the cities and towns of medieval Europe, fresh, clean water was not to be trusted as a drink, milk was for children and the elderly. Coffee, tea and soda were not yet around, fruit juices were surely there, but could not be kept for a longer period of time. That left the (light)alcoholic drinks beer and wine. And so lots of cities had vineyards in close vicinity, sometimes even within its walls. Just like (professional) vegetable gardens, who till this day are most often to be found on the outskirts of  town, like in my hometown Utrecht. As to vineyards in the city: Paris and Vienna are well known examples, with vineyards present within its boundaries even to this day.

Recently I heard about Venice having had vineyards too.  On Mazzorbo, one of the islands that dot the lagoon that harbours this venerable city, vineyards have been restored that date back to the 15th century. Even an ancient grape variety has been saved from oblivion, the dorona, related to garganega. Behind the project is a well known prosecco producer from Valdobiadenne, Bisol. Bisol’s 2 ha walled vineyard on Mazzorbo is  called Scarpa Volo.

Gianluca Bisol explained to the Bibendum  Times: “I have always been fascinated with the food and wine history of the lagoon. This result represents the fruit of five years of work in which we have been researching the history of the local grape varieties in Venice, widespread until only a few centuries ago.”

The wine from Mazzorbo is called Venissa, and the first vintage will be released next week, with lots of dinners for the privileged few. You will have to be very lucky to taste this wine, because production is very limited and most of the bottles are already sold in an en-primeur sale.

Luckily, Venissa is also a restaurant on Mazzorbo owned by Bisol; if you are interested in tasting the wine, and you are by any change in Venice this spring, I would suggest you try and book a dinner or a tasting there.

More information on Venissa can be found here. With thanks to Jonneke Krans for the interesting links she send me.