Biography
They call him “the banker of wine”, but Gianni Zonin, the foremost Italian private entrepreneur in terms of vineyard acreage, accepted to guide the Banca Poplare of Vicenza with a spirit of service to the community and has remained in charge due to the brilliant results obtained. But he did not do it for an authentic passion: his real mission in life is the land and its fruits. With a diploma in oenology and a doctorate in jurisprudence, he has directed his family’s firm in Vicenza since 1967 when it became a joint-stock company, and then became president of the firm at a mere 29 years of age. It was due to his foresight that the company, up to then a négociant house, began to concentrate its efforts on vineyard property as well in order to improve overall quality and gradually acquired sizeable vineyard properties in areas of major viticultural interest, from Friuli to Tuscany, from Piedmont to Lombardy, and from Apulia to Sicily. Working with this spirit, Zonin became a group which, alongside the large bottling cellars in Gambellara near Vicenza, can boast of nine viticultural estates, eight in Italy and one in Virginia in the USA, 4500 acres of vineyards, 350 employees, and 23 million bottles per year of production. The philosophy of Zonin is that the true challenge is not to produce limited numbers of good wine at high prices but rather, due to large volume, good wine at accessible prices for a wide public. Gianni Zonin has won this challenge: Acciaiolo, a sumptuous blend of Sangiovese and Cabernet produced at the Castello d’Alba in Radda in Chianti, is a Super Tuscan of important personality and Deliella, a fascinating Nero d’Avola from the Feudo Principi di Butera, is one of Sicily’s most prestigious wines.