What is Fattoria Zerbina best known for?

Fattoria Zerbina is best known for Scacco Matto, a noble-rot Albana Passito DOCG. It has won Gambero Rosso's Tre Bicchieri award five times since 1996. Cristina Geminiani's botrytis bottling was first released in 1987. It helped make Romagna Albana the region's first white DOCG. The estate is also known for Sangiovese grown on the Marzeno slopes, sold under Romagna Sangiovese Superiore Riserva DOC.

Who owns and runs Fattoria Zerbina?

Cristina Geminiani owns and runs the estate. She is the granddaughter of founder Vincenzo Geminiani, who bought the Marzeno land in 1966. Cristina took charge of the cellar and vineyards in 1987. She has overseen every wine since.

Where is Fattoria Zerbina and how do I get there?

The cellar is at Via Vicchio 11 in Marzeno, a hamlet just south of Faenza. That is in the Ravenna province of Emilia-Romagna. It sits roughly an hour southeast of Bologna. It lies forty minutes inland from the Adriatic coast at Ravenna.

Can you visit Fattoria Zerbina for a tasting?

Yes. Visits and tastings run by appointment through visit.zerbina.com, the estate's own booking portal. Dates and formats are listed there. Booking ahead is required.

Is Fattoria Zerbina an organic winery?

Yes. The estate is enrolled in the EU Misura 11 organic-agriculture measure. It farms its 29 hectares at Marzeno under organic practices. The vines are trained as low bushes and planted at high density, for both Albana and Sangiovese.

What grapes does Fattoria Zerbina grow?

Albana and Sangiovese are the two anchor grapes. Smaller plantings of Trebbiano Romagnolo and supporting international varieties go into the Ravenna IGT blends. Albana makes both the dry Bianco di Ceparano and the late-harvest Passito wines. Sangiovese drives the Pietramora, Poggio Vicchio and Monografia bottlings from the Marzeno slopes.

Fattoria Zerbina

Fattoria Zerbina is a family estate in the Marzeno hills outside Faenza. Cristina Geminiani took over in 1987 and has spent the years since refining Romagna's two great grapes, Albana and Sangiovese. The cellar is best known for Scacco Matto, a noble-rot Albana Passito that helped earn Romagna its first white DOCG. A rigorous range of Sangiovese from the Marzeno slopes stands beside it. Gambero Rosso has given Scacco Matto its top Tre Bicchieri award five times. Visits run by appointment through the cellar's own booking site.

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Vineyard rows with trees under a blue sky at Fattoria Zerbina

About Fattoria Zerbina

The estate climbs the clay and limestone slopes above Faenza, in eastern Romagna. Albana and Sangiovese have been worked on this strip of Emilia-Romagna for centuries. Vincenzo Geminiani bought the land in 1966. His granddaughter Cristina took over the cellar in 1987. She rebuilt the vineyard around alberello bush vines. Sangiovese went in at 7,500 to 11,000 plants per hectare, and Albana at 5,000. That is double the local norm. The 140,000 vines now run as a single estate, about 41 football pitches of land, and they are still trained low to the ground.

Cristina's signature wine arrived almost as soon as she did. Scacco Matto, first bottled in 1987, is a late-harvest Albana. It is picked grape by grape on the noble-rot pass through the vineyard. It then ferments slowly in small stainless steel tanks and in used French oak. Gambero Rosso has given it Tre Bicchieri five times: 1996, 2001, 2004, 2013 and 2016. The wine helped define the Romagna Albana Passito DOCG, and it is still the calling card for that whole category.

Arrocco is the companion bottling, a less concentrated reading of the same idea. AR Riserva captures only the most charged vintages.

Sangiovese gets the same forensic treatment. Five clones have been on trial since 1987. The Marzeno cru gives the backbone for Pietramora, Poggio Vicchio and the single-vineyard Monografia. The Riserva bottlings sit inside Romagna Sangiovese Superiore Riserva DOC. Romagna built that category precisely to give its hill-grown Sangiovese a definitive expression. The IGT reds Marzieno and Antitesi run alongside as more open-textured experiments, under the Ravenna Rosso IGT umbrella. Bianco di Ceparano carries the dry face of Albana, under Romagna Albana Secco DOCG.

Visits run by appointment through visit.zerbina.com, the cellar's own booking portal. The estate farms to organic practices under the EU Misura 11 measure. Cristina often hosts industry tastings herself. The cellar sits in the hills an hour south of Bologna. It is one of the more direct places to taste why Romagna treats Albana and Sangiovese as equally serious wines.

Editorial · ItalianWines.co.uk

Plate I · EMILIA ROMAGNA

Fattoria Zerbina on the Emilia Romagna wine atlas

Via Vicchio, 11, 48010 Marzeno, Ravenna (Emilia Romagna)

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Guided visit and tasting at the Marzeno estate. Dates and formats are managed through the winery's own booking portal.

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Via Vicchio, 11, 48010 Marzeno, Ravenna (Emilia Romagna)

+39 054640022

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Common questions

Fattoria Zerbina is best known for Scacco Matto, a noble-rot Albana Passito DOCG. It has won Gambero Rosso's Tre Bicchieri award five times since 1996. Cristina Geminiani's botrytis bottling was first released in 1987. It helped make Romagna Albana the region's first white DOCG. The estate is also known for Sangiovese grown on the Marzeno slopes, sold under Romagna Sangiovese Superiore Riserva DOC.
Cristina Geminiani owns and runs the estate. She is the granddaughter of founder Vincenzo Geminiani, who bought the Marzeno land in 1966. Cristina took charge of the cellar and vineyards in 1987. She has overseen every wine since.
The cellar is at Via Vicchio 11 in Marzeno, a hamlet just south of Faenza. That is in the Ravenna province of Emilia-Romagna. It sits roughly an hour southeast of Bologna. It lies forty minutes inland from the Adriatic coast at Ravenna.
Yes. Visits and tastings run by appointment through visit.zerbina.com, the estate's own booking portal. Dates and formats are listed there. Booking ahead is required.
Yes. The estate is enrolled in the EU Misura 11 organic-agriculture measure. It farms its 29 hectares at Marzeno under organic practices. The vines are trained as low bushes and planted at high density, for both Albana and Sangiovese.
Albana and Sangiovese are the two anchor grapes. Smaller plantings of Trebbiano Romagnolo and supporting international varieties go into the Ravenna IGT blends. Albana makes both the dry Bianco di Ceparano and the late-harvest Passito wines. Sangiovese drives the Pietramora, Poggio Vicchio and Monografia bottlings from the Marzeno slopes.

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