El Zeremia Farm, consisting of about 4 hectares, 2 cultivated with apples and 2 with vines, is located in the commune of Novella, a hamlet of Revò in the province of Trento; the farm was inherited by Zadra Augusto in 1991, the year in which his grandfather Tullio died, former farmer and preserver of an ancient vine of Groppello di Revò grapes.
In his will it was written that he left “the vineyard as an inheritance to his son Augusto last of seven children and that he had to keep and cultivate it for at least ten years.”
Augusto treasured this sentence and not only continued to work and take care of the land but he fell in love with it so much that in 2001 his product was recognized as an autochthonous wine of Val Di Non, thanks to DNA studies done by the Agricultural Institute of San Michele.
Subsequently it was recognized as IGT WINE.
At the beginning of the 90s wine was made at home for family use. In 1995, thanks to a chance meeting with the journalist Rai Nereo Pederzolli, who said he was intrigued by the beautiful grape just harvested and close to being crushed in the cellar, a bet took place between him and Augusto: grapes were brought to a specialized winery, Pravis of Lasino Valle dei Laghi (TN) where experiments were carried out on winemaking; From this unknown and rare wine one derived one considered valuable that was called the “wine memory” of Trentino.
Over time, rumors spread that Revò’s Groppello wine was taking off and when Zadra met Gianpaolo Girardi, “the archaeologist of Trentino wines”, owner of the Proposed Wines company, Groppello was included in the Vini dell’angelo series, a project born in 1988 that enhances Trentino’s biodiversity and that is shared by about fifteen passionate producers determined to recover those ancient vines, often deliberately forgotten, which were cultivated in the Habsburg Trentino until the fall of the Empire.
The Groppello, often confused with the more famous Groppelli of the Brescia side of Lake Garda, has very ancient origins. Its ancient history is certainly documented in the chronicles of Mariani, in which we read that in the last years of the territory belonging to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, there was a production of almost 50 thousand hectoliters of wine that left for Vienna , at the court of Emperor Franz Joseph.
In Revò, in 1893, the First Social Winery of Trentino was founded, and the Third in terms of quantity after Borgo Valsugana and Riva del Garda, for this reason we consider that grapes and wine, produced in this territory, which today is covered with apples, it was a simple and normal vineyard of the Habsburg empire.
Unfortunately the phylloxera, the Great War and subsequently the construction of the artificial dam on the lake of Santa Giustina in 1951 contributed to the extinction of this vine of ancient origins, leaving very few amateur plots on the ground with monumental vines from the heroic past.
Since the time of Grandfather Tullio, the Augusto family has owned a historic vineyard of over 120 years of age from which new vine shoots were born to expand the vineyard surface and from which one hundred quintals of annual grapes are obtained for a prized Groppello wine of Revò.
The tenacity of the family and of some “irreducible” farmers have meant that this grape obtained a small niche in the realm of the apple.
El Zeremia is the family nickname, whose goal from the beginning was to enhance and bring Revò’s Groppello to the best tables of renowned restaurants around the world.
Following the renovation, since 2010, the winery is presented in an ancient but functional context with modern technologies, with a first part of steel fermentation tanks for vinification and a part destined to be used for aging and aging. Next to the cellar is the tasting room with a maximum capacity of 40 people, where you can taste typical local dishes, accompanied by the two wines of Revò Groppello, a more drinkable steel vinified that reflects the rusticity of the vine, the other refined in more elegant and complex barriques.
Another curiosity of the company is that for about ten years different types of uvala have been added: the Johanniter, a white grape variety, resistant to the main fungal diseases that does not require any type of phytosanitary treatment; Excellent quality vines able to produce a fragrant grape for a wine rich in naturalness and genuineness, produced both in a still and sparkling version of the Metodo Classico.
To underline the recovery project of the ancient Maor autochthonous white grape variety still present in the 400 only in Val di Non and at the beginning of Val di Sole.
Every year the harvest is a feast, accompanied by sausages and polenta, a typical meal of the anniversary as Mr. Zadra wanted, not to forget the traditions of the past.
Guided tours of the winery are organized and, for tourists, walks in the vineyards near Lake Santa Giustina; splendid panorama for souvenir photos.