History
Carlo Campagnola and Caterina Zardini
The family’s involvement in wine began with Carlo Campagnola, who entered the wine trade while still young. After his premature death in the early twentieth century, his wife, Caterina Zardini, unexpectedly became head of a family of ten children. Drawing on the knowledge Carlo had passed to her, she continued both the family business and its work in the vineyards with her children.
In 1907, Caterina received a medal for the best “Vino Recciotto” at the Wine Exhibition in Verona. Her perseverance became the formative example associated with the first generation of the Campagnola family’s wine history.
The second generation
Giuseppe, one of Carlo and Caterina’s ten children, inherited their entrepreneurial outlook. In 1926, he and his brothers acquired the Antica Osteria ai Portoni Borsari in Verona, where they sold wines made on the family farm.
During the 1940s, amid the Second World War, Giuseppe moved with his children Giancarlo and Luigi to the present family location in Valgatara. He purchased most of his brothers’ vineyards and pursued a deliberate focus on higher-quality production. The historic cellar in which traditional Valpolicella reds continue to mature emerged during this period of the family enterprise’s development.
Post-war development
Luigi Campagnola contributed to the family business’s post-war renewal. During the 1950s he identified historic grape suppliers around Marano di Valpolicella, maintaining relationships that formed part of the family’s continuing work with local growers.
A new cellar completed in 2000 marked the transition from a small production concern to a larger enterprise equipped for international markets, hospitality and events.
Five generations and the Caterina Zardini estate
The family’s connection with land, vineyards and winemaking has now passed through five generations. Caterina Zardini’s name was given to the 36-hectare farmholding in Marano di Valpolicella as a tribute to her strength, courage and tenacity. The estate’s identity also extends that dedication to women who believe in the power of their ambitions. Its present range centres on Amarone della Valpolicella DOCG Classico Riserva and Valpolicella DOC Classico Superiore.
Terroir
The estate occupies 36 hectares of hillside vineyards in Marano di Valpolicella, at the heart of the Valpolicella Classica area in Verona, Veneto. The vineyards lie at approximately 300 metres above sea level and face south-west.
The soils are limestone-based and of Eocene origin. The estate treats the vineyards as a single Marano hillside holding rather than presenting individually named parcels or crus.
Winemaking
The entire 36-hectare holding is under certified organic cultivation. The estate combines Guyot and Pergola Veronese training, with planting densities of 3,000–4,000 vines per hectare.
Harvesting and bunch selection are performed by hand at the end of September. Selection concentrates on the finest, fully healthy bunches with suitable ripeness and sugar concentration. Grapes intended for raisining are monitored closely throughout the drying period to preserve their health and cleanliness.
Production is organised around selected hillside fruit and the use of appassimento. The best bunches are harvested and selected manually before undergoing either partial or extended natural raisining, according to the intended expression. The drying fruit is followed closely to maintain clean, healthy grapes as water loss concentrates its components.
Vinification employs soft pressing followed by maceration on the skins. Wood maturation is adapted to the wine: the cellar uses new, medium-toasted French barriques made from Allier oak as well as larger Slavonian oak casks. Bottle refinement follows wood ageing. For the longer-lived red, the duration of maturation varies with the origin and physicochemical composition of the wine, allowing colour, aromatic profile, fragrance, flavour and bouquet to evolve.
Philosophy
Caterina Zardini is conceived as a tribute to the strength, courage and tenacity of the woman whose work sustained the family after her husband’s death. Its dedication extends to women who believe in the power of their ambitions.
The estate’s production philosophy rests on rigorous selection of the finest grapes and bunches from its Marano hillsides, careful management of appassimento and a desire to carry the family’s emotional connection to wine across generations. Within the wider Campagnola family approach, the guiding principles are to work grapes skilfully, express the distinctions of their terroirs and pursue production with an environmentally sustainable outlook.