Zymè derives from the Greek term for "yeast, ferment." Founded in 2000 as the outgrowth of a preceding brand (vine leaf circumscribed by a pentagon) into a team of consultants, it has now become a full-fledged azienda agricola, or farming estate, with its new title signifying research, selection, and expression of experience, married to everything that nature provides us with.
The Azienda Agricola Zymè, through its wines, its grappa, and its olive oil, has set itself the goal of achieving distinction because of certain choices that sometimes run counter to prevailing tendencies. Research into native varieties, expression of terroir, and natural genetic mutations are the ferment for an enthusiasm untrammelled by time or limits.
This estate winery was founded in 2003, although our winemaking activity, as consultants, goes back to 1999. The motivation for founding the winery is simple, but also, paradoxically enough, complex. My own relationship with the earth has always been close, a personal past with insistent influence, always in dialogue with nature, but without adequate expression. My many experiences in various environments did nothing to lesson this bond; instead, they served to strengthen it. Thus, after years of assisting winegrowers, which brought the invaluable advantage of an intimate understanding of the local terroirs, here I am finally able to give life to a dream that for too many years existed simply on paper.
Nowadays, this personal thought gets stronger with the presence of Francesco Parisi who, acquiring Flavio's shares, is becoming a determining figure in the company, overall for vineyards management and public relations.
Today our operation relies on some 15 hectares; some come from my family, others are farmed in cooperation with other landowners. Vines and olive trees are the crops that cover the lands. On the other hand, the winery has reached a conclusion which is one of the most original and particular structures all around the world (it is a Sandstone Quarry of 1400).
Our future goals can only demonstrate the further development and ceaseless improvement of everything we now see around us.
The journey continues, the years mount up, experience becomes ever richer, results emerge, plans are put into practice, directions take shape. In this way life morphs endlessly, transforming us in the process.In 2007 balances change again, the concept of Wine Farm gets stronger, improvement works are going on fast both for vineyards and for winery, productiveness increases and investments too, expecting the same market development! Our colleague Flavio Peroni leaves us, he will continue on consulting activities; and us, Celestino and Francesco, we will go on through this way!!!
The earliest available records of Oseleta date back to the late 19th. - early 20th. century. These references exalted the variety's analytical characteristics (and especially its polyphenolic content) but advised against its use because of its low yields in terms both of grapes and in wine.
It is to be found sparsely planted around the historic vineyards of the Valpolicella area, and it is only in the last 15 years or so that certain vineyards have been devoted specifically to this grape variety. At present there is probably a total area of some 10-12 hectares (25-30 acres) of Oseleta being cultivated in the whole of the Valpolicella zone, but new plantings are foreseen over the next few years. So far, the only wines made from Oseleta that are on the market are blends with other varieties, since this grape is generally thought of as making wines that are fairly rustic in nature, with distinctly coarse and earthy sensations.
As from the 2002 vintage, Oseleta is an authorized and recommended grape for the Valpolicella area.
Notable characteristics: marked anthocyanins, tannins, total acidity and dry extract.
Yield of grapes in wine: maximum 55%.
Because of its lack of specific and pronounced aromatic characteristics, it blends well with other grape varieties.
It produces wine that is undoubtedly long-lived.
In view of the above, the question naturally arises as to why we should have wished to make a 100% varietal wine from Oseleta. Our motivation was quite simply that of expressing to the full the characteristics and potential of a cultivar that is quite different from (yet in no way inferior to, if not in terms of its yield) other, better-known varieties. Moreover, Oseleta forms an integral part of our historic ampelographic and viticultural heritage, and this is, for us, a factor of no small importance: indeed, it is very much in line with our declared aim of being constantly innovative whilst respecting and celebrating our historical traditions.