About
Alpha Zeta is a winery in Veneto, Italy.
History, winemaking, wines and news for this producer are being prepared. Meanwhile, visit the official website.
Terroir
Alpha Zeta draws fruit from several hillside zones in Veneto.
Valpantena Valley
Vineyards in the hills outside Verona lie between 100 and 400 metres above sea level, with many sites facing south or south-east. Cool air descends the Valpantena Valley from the foothills of the Dolomites, moderating temperatures and extending ripening. The slower cycle helps the grapes retain aromatic compounds and acidity. The soils are generally poor and chalky, limiting vine vigour.
Within eastern Valpolicella, the Terrapieno site is relatively cool and later-ripening. Its poor, well-drained soils consist of granite and decomposed volcanic rock.
Alpone Valley
Sites in the hills of the Alpone Valley, around Monteforte d'Alpone in eastern Soave, stand at 100–300 metres. Selected older vineyards have south-east exposure and marl-and-limestone soils. The elevation creates a marked diurnal range, with warm days and cool nights helping to preserve acidity and freshness.
Vicenza hills
Hillside vineyards near Vicenza experience cooler nights that favour the development of grape aromatics. Their soils are calcareous and volcanic in origin.
Winemaking
Fruit is harvested by hand throughout the represented range. In selected older vineyards of the Alpone Valley, growers reduce yields considerably. Across the Valpantena and Alpone sites, vines average 20–30 years old and combine the traditional Pergola Veronese training system with Guyot; the Vicenza-area Glera vineyards use Guyot.
Poor soils and the resulting low vine vigour favour concentrated fruit. Altitude, hillside exposure and cooler conditions support slower ripening and the retention of acidity and aromatic compounds.
Cellar work varies by grape and style but consistently employs controlled temperatures and gentle fruit handling. Grapes are harvested by hand. White fruit may be chilled before pressing, naturally settled and fermented at low temperature in stainless steel. Selected lots also use 500-litre French-oak puncheons and a combination of ambient and cultured yeasts. Red grapes are destemmed and crushed before temperature-controlled fermentation in stainless steel, with pump-overs where required. Concrete tanks are used for maturation or the final stages before bottling. Rosé receives a short skin maceration before pneumatic pressing and cool fermentation.
Garganega is chilled without an initial sulphur addition, given a short maceration and fermented with cultured yeast at 12–16°C in 1,200-hectolitre stainless-steel tanks. Ageing on fine lees takes place in the same tanks. Chardonnay is whole-bunch pressed and fermented at 15–18°C, half in 500-litre French-oak puncheons and half in stainless steel; maturation continues in the same vessels for six months.
Red-wine fermentation takes place in stainless steel at up to 22–28°C. Valpolicella receives eight days of skin contact and completes malolactic fermentation in steel before transfer to concrete. Corvina is fermented with regular pump-overs, aged in steel and transferred to concrete for final filtration.
Ripasso uses a modern variation of the traditional Veronese method. Instead of refermenting young wine on spent Amarone skins in March, the young wine ferments with dried grapes in January, adding body and depth. It then matures in oak for 12 months.
For Amarone, selected grapes are harvested by hand in mid-September and dried in ventilated rooms until the end of January, losing about 40% of their natural weight. After destemming and crushing, fermentation takes place at 18–20°C with daily pump-overs and a 20-day maceration. The wine matures in French-oak barriques for 18 months before transfer to concrete for final filtration.
Prosecco is made by the Charmat method. Hand-picked grapes are destemmed, crushed and gently pressed. The must undergoes a temperature-controlled first fermentation in stainless steel until it reaches 10% alcohol. The wine then enters pressurised autoclaves, where yeast and sugar initiate a second fermentation. The resulting carbon dioxide dissolves in the wine. Filtration, centrifugation, refrigeration and bottling take place under pressure; the finished spumante has more than 3 bar of bottle pressure.
Philosophy
The vineyard and cellar approach centres on preserving varietal aroma, freshness and acidity. Hillside position, cooler conditions, south-easterly exposure, older vines and reduced yields are used to obtain concentrated fruit. Chilling, gentle pressing and controlled fermentation temperatures protect aromatic precision.
Traditional regional practices—including Pergola Veronese training, appassimento and ripasso—are combined with stainless steel, concrete, pneumatic pressing and temperature control. The modern interpretation of ripasso illustrates this balance: the underlying regional method is retained while the timing and use of dried grapes are adapted to build body and depth.