The story of our wine cellar starts with Bartolomeo Zeni in 1870: painter by passion, but carter by profession, Bartolomeo Zeni transported the goods of his region, like fish, olive oil and wine to the villages along the shores of Lake Garda and even to Lombardy.
Among all the carried goods, wine was the one he was mostly familiar with, to such an extent that, besides carting it, he started trading it. Bartolomeo’s business was then carried on by his son Gaetano, who began taking his first steps as wine broker. Thanks to Francesco, Gaetano’s eldest son and father of 7 children, the Zeni family’s offspring inherited not only the family name, but also the strong passion for farming. The following passing of the family business to the two brothers Faustino and Ernesto meant a gradual evolution of the productive tradition towards its future commercial development. All the duties concerning the wine production process were shared out between the two brothers: Faustino was, in fact, in charge of the vineyard operations, whereas Ernesto oversaw the vinification procedures inside the family’s small winery located at n.16 of Borgo Garibaldi, in the heart of the historic center of Bardolino.

Gaetano, called Nino and his uncle Ernesto recognized a rapidly expanding market, especially abroad and thus completely changed the company’s philosophy: the focus would still have been kept on the production of quality wine, but he thought it was necessary to abandon the habit of mixing grapes coming from different vineyards. From now on the grapes from the different wine areas would have been vinified separately. Furthermore, factors such as pedoclimatic conditions, density of planting and the age of the vines would have become the main quality references affecting the whole wine production process. The meticulous selection of vineyards and grapes has then become a determinant of our wine cellar with wines appreciated all over the world.