History
Development as a visitor and production estate
By 2016, Tenuta Canova was operating as a productive wine estate comprising vineyards, a traditional grape-drying house, a maturation cellar and a wine shop. The Masi Group managed the property directly through its subsidiary Terre e Vigne S.r.l., while guided visits formed part of the broader Masi Wine Experience programme.
On 18 March 2016, the existing wine shop was expanded with the Vino & Cucina space. This introduced a hospitality format pairing the group’s wines with food built around simplicity, authenticity and regional ingredients.
The Wine Discovery Museum
The Masi Wine Discovery Museum opened at Tenuta Canova in September 2017. Its three-part itinerary follows wine from the earth to the vine, from the vine to wine and from wine to the table. The project strengthened the estate’s educational and hospitality role by combining wine culture with a multisensory presentation of production.
The museum’s central installation was created inside a 50,000-litre wooden vat measuring 5 metres high and 4.5 metres wide. Before its conversion, the vat had been used to mature Masi wines for more than 15 years. It accommodates up to 15 visitors and condenses seven days of fermentation into a three-minute experience using images, aromas and sounds captured during the actual process.
Recognition and recent vintages
In 2018, Tenuta Canova received a Tripadvisor Certificate of Excellence for 2017. The Wine Discovery Museum was subsequently recognised in the 2019 Best of Wine Tourism programme for innovative wine-tourism experiences; the project also received the programme’s global award.
The 2024 growing season brought root asphyxia and thermal stress, including temperatures above 37°C on some August days. Corvina, Rondinella and Corvinone nevertheless progressed toward full phenolic maturity, expected around 9 September.
In 2025, temperatures again exceeded 37°C on several June days, followed by a light July hailstorm. Phenolic ripening of Corvina, Rondinella and Corvinone continued steadily, with its expected peak around 8 September. The estate hosted its Harvest Party on 19 September, combining participation in the harvest with visits to the drying loft, maturation cellars and museum.
Terroir
Tenuta Canova lies outside Lazise, in the hinterland of Lake Garda, between the gentle hills of the Veronese countryside and the lake. From the estate’s belvedere, the landscape extends across its vineyards toward the Valpolicella hills and the mountains beyond.
The hillside vineyard soils are morainic in origin and were shaped and smoothed by the ancient Garda and Adige glaciers. They are considered particularly suited to viticulture. The climate is generally mild, with gentle winters and temperate summers, while breezes from Lake Garda reach the vineyards.
Recent seasons have also demonstrated the site’s exposure to climatic extremes. Temperatures exceeded 37°C during parts of August 2024 and June 2025. The 2024 vineyards experienced both root asphyxia and heat stress, while a light hailstorm followed the June heat in July 2025.
Winemaking
The estate monitors the phenolic development of Corvina, Rondinella and Corvinone as harvest approaches. During the difficult 2024 season, the vineyards faced root asphyxia and heat stress, with temperatures above 37°C on some August days; phenolic maturity was nevertheless expected to be complete by about 9 September. In 2025, temperatures exceeded 37°C on several June days and a light hailstorm occurred in July, but ripening continued steadily toward an expected peak around 8 September.
The annual harvest celebration allows visitors to take part in grape picking alongside members of the Masi Technical Group’s agronomic and oenological team before visiting the estate’s drying loft and maturation cellars.
Tenuta Canova contains a traditional fruttaio, where grapes undergo drying before they are pressed. The property also has dedicated maturation cellars in which Campofiorin is aged.
The production complex therefore encompasses vineyards, grape drying and maturation. The Wine Discovery Museum presents the wider transformation from earth to vine, vine to wine and wine to table, but its fermentation display is educational rather than an identified production vessel: the installation occupies a former 50,000-litre wooden vat that had previously matured Masi wines for more than 15 years.