Gianni Zonin, chairman and president of Casa Vinicola Zonin, has been awarded the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award by Wine Enthusiast magazine.
The wine publication declared the winemaker from Veneto the most influential personality of 2013 in the wine world, both for the overall contribution brought to the sector and for his extraordinary entrepreneurial intuition: bringing viticulture to the East Coast of the United States, precisely Virginia, more than 35 years ago, and being able to create from scratch a wine culture throughout the area.
“Gianni Zonin has succeeded in an unparalleled number of achievements over the course of his lifetime,” stated Wine Enthusiast’s editor and publisher Adam Strum. “Being the first to look beyond not only his own Italian region, but across the ocean for opportunities in China and America, he embodies what it truly means to be a wine industry pioneer.”
Zonin joins the ranks of celebrated winemakers from around the world that have received the Lifetime Achievement Award like Piero Antinori, Robert Mondavi, Miguel Torres and Baron Eric de Rothschild.
Zonin was born in 1938 in Gambellara, in the province of Vicenza in northeastern Italy, and lives in Vicenza. After earning a diploma in Oenology from the Enological Institute of Conegliano Veneto, he graduated with a Law Degree. In 1957, he joined Casa Vinicola Zonin, the family-owned company of vintners since 1821, and he became president in 1967, at the age of 29. During his 56 years of leadership, he significantly expanded the company, acquiring 10 estates for a total of 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) in the seven most prestigious wine regions in Italy.
In 1976, Zonin realized a dream shared by the third American president, Thomas Jefferson: to produce high-quality wine on the Atlantic coast of the U.S. Jefferson had attempted to create a vineyard in the 19th century at Monticello, but always failed to achieve a single harvest. Zonin opened the Barboursville Winery Vineyards, which now sprawls over an area of 500 hectares, and planted them with vines when there were no other wineries in Virginia; in the years since, Barboursville has become one of the most important wineries in the state, which now has approximately 250. Zonin grows Barbera, Nebbiolo and Sangiovese there among other varieties.
Zonin received the award at Wine Enthusiast’s Annual Wine Star Awards Gala Dinner in New York City on January 27. "I'm really proud and honored to receive this prestigious award and to join those who, before me, have had a recognition of this importance," Zonin said. "It is not just an honor for me, for my family and for all the people who work with us, but also for Italy. It’s a confirmation of how well Italians are working in both viticulture and winemaking.”
The Zonin family leads one of the largest family-owned grape-growing and wine-making companies in Italy and one of the most important in Europe. The company employs 700 people and reported sales of 150 million euros in 2013, with foreign markets accounting for 70% of total sales. Alongside president Gianni Zonin, his three sons Domenico, Francesco and Michele oversee different areas of the company.
