Ca Dei Zago

Ca' dei Zago is a fifth-generation family estate in Valdobbiadene, founded in 1924 and now run by siblings Christian and Marika Zago. They farm roughly 4.5 hectares of steep, sun-facing slopes in the heart of the Conegliano-Valdobbiadene DOCG, biodynamic since 2010 and worked by hand with help from Grigio Alpina cattle. The house is one of the touchstones of the 'col fondo' revival: spontaneous fermentation, gravity-fed cellar, no fining or filtration, and a second fermentation that happens naturally in bottle on the wine's own lees. Christian interned with Larry McKenna at Escarpment in Martinborough before returning home, and is reviving the slow, lunar-calendar methods of the older Zago generations.