{"id":1381,"date":"2019-10-01T13:46:15","date_gmt":"2019-10-01T13:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1381"},"modified":"2019-10-01T13:46:15","modified_gmt":"2019-10-01T13:46:15","slug":"zyme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1381","title":{"rendered":"Z\u00fdm\u0113"},"content":{"rendered":"

Located in the heart of the Valpolicella region in northern Italy, Z\u00fdm\u0113 (http:\/\/www.zyme.it\/en\/winery\/<\/a>) offers a rather unique wine tasting adventure.\u00a0 First, though, the name needs explanation.\u00a0 Z\u00fdm\u0113 is a Greek word for \u201cyeast\u201d, which aside from being a critical ingredient in wine is, according to the winemaker, Celestino Gaspari, a symbol of naturalness, a leading value of this winery.\u00a0 It\u2019s pronounced ZEE-may and is located in the village of San Pietro in Cariano, not far from Verona<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We have to be truthful and say that the winery you will visit is not the same one we did.\u00a0 Z\u00fdm\u0113 has recently opened a new winery, very modern on the outside and ancient in the interior.\u00a0 When we visited not very long ago, it was literally a hole in a hill and the winery itself was in a cave.\u00a0 The cave-like atmosphere is still maintained but it is now carved out of an 15th<\/sup> century limestone quarry.\u00a0 Like the prior winery, walking through the cavern is a unique and rather thrilling experience.\u00a0 The pictures accompanying this article, courtesy of Z\u00fdm\u0113, are very reminiscent of what we saw and give some idea of the impact of a visit there.<\/p>\n

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The d\u00e9cor provides the wine tasting experience, but it would matter little if the wine weren\u2019t interesting as well.\u00a0 Power Tasting<\/em> does not review wines as such, but we can say that Z\u00fdm\u0113 makes excellent wines in the Valpolicella style from the corvina, corvinone <\/em>and rondinella<\/em> grapes. \u00a0These are only to found in the Valpolicella region.\u00a0 But Z\u00fdm\u0113 goes further, making wines from rarely encountered grapes as well as more common ones not usually found in that region.<\/p>\n

This level of quality might be expected once one knows the background of the winemaker.\u00a0 Signore Gaspari worked for many years at Quintarelli, thought by many to be the premier Amarone maker.\u00a0 In fact, Giovanni Quintarelli was his father-in-law.\u00a0 Z\u00fdm\u0113\u2019s wines have a different character than Quintarelli\u2019s but you can tell in a simple tasting that they are made with craft and pride.<\/p>\n

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In addition to the traditional wines of the region, Z\u00fdm\u0113 makes a wine called Oseleta, from 100% grapes of the same name.\u00a0 According to Wine-Searcher, there are less than 20 hectares of these vines anywhere in the world, almost all grown near Lake Garda.\u00a0 Once almost extinct, Z\u00fdm\u0113 now makes this unique wine, keeping a distinctive taste, unlike anything else we have tasted, alive for future generations.<\/p>\n

Another special wine made by Z\u00fdm\u0113 is Kairos, a Greek word (again) for \u201cthe opportune moment\u201d.\u00a0 This wine is a power hitter, weighing in at 15% alcohol and is made from the kitchen sink of grapes: Garganega, Trebbiano toscano, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Syraz, Teroldego, Croatina, Oseleta, Sangiovese and Marzemino.\u00a0 There has to be something in this wine to please everyone\u2026or no one.<\/p>\n

The Valpolicella region is not exactly unknown, but is generally not as well-regarded as Tuscany and the Piedmont.\u00a0 That\u2019s a shame, because there are some really spectacular wines to be tasted there.\u00a0 And if you do go, you really should not miss a visit to Z\u00fdm\u0113.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Located in the heart of the Valpolicella region in northern Italy, Z\u00fdm\u0113 (http:\/\/www.zyme.it\/en\/winery\/) offers a rather unique wine tasting adventure.\u00a0 First, though, the name needs explanation.\u00a0 Z\u00fdm\u0113 is a Greek word for \u201cyeast\u201d, which aside from being a critical ingredient in wine is, according to the winemaker, Celestino Gaspari, a symbol of naturalness, a leading … Continue reading Z\u00fdm\u0113<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1381"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1381"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1384,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1381\/revisions\/1384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}