About Venissa
Venissa is a wine estate situated on the island of Mazzorbo in the Venetian Lagoon, producing wines under the Venezia (Laguna di Venezia) and Veneto IGT appellations. The project is centered on the revival of Dorona, a rare indigenous white grape variety historically cultivated in the lagoon, alongside red wines. Its vineyard setting within the lagoon makes it one of the most geographically distinctive wine estates in Italy.
Prices are for take away and shipping. The wine bar serves from its own list.
The winery
About Venissa
History
Venissa begins in 2002, when Gianluca Bisol noticed a small vineyard in a garden next to the Santa Maria Assunta basilica on Torcello, in the Venetian lagoon. He traced the vines and found the last 88 plants of a native white variety, Dorona di Venezia, that had survived the great flood of 1966, which had ended the lagoon's winemaking. Bisol then bought a walled estate on the island of Mazzorbo, close to Burano. Vines had grown there since the 1300s, and in the 1800s it became a winery that kept working until the flood. Late in that century and into the next it belonged to Augusto Scarpa, one of Italy's first enologists.
The land and the vineyards
The vineyard is a small walled plot, with medieval walls, a 14th century bell tower, a canal and its own fishery. It sits at lagoon level, so high water and salt are part of the farming. Agronomists advised against planting vines here because of the salt, and Bisol replanted the old variety anyway. The winery counts about one hectare of Dorona di Venezia, which it describes as the only plantation of this grape in the world. Floods have covered the vineyard several times, most recently with the high water of November 2019, and the 2020 vintage came from that event.
The wines
The first Venissa vintage, a white from Dorona, came out in 2010, with 4,480 bottles. Roughly 3,500 bottles are made in a normal year. The grapes spend a long time on their skins, which the winery credits for the structure of a red wine and for the long life of the white. The enologists named on the estate are Roberto Cipresso and Desiderio Bisol. In 2011 the Rosso Venissa appeared, made from Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon grown on the nearby island of Santa Cristina, and in 2013 the Venusa wines were born from the Mazzorbo vineyard.
Today
Venissa is also a restaurant with one Michelin star and a Michelin Green Star, an informal osteria and a small resort with rooms, all on Mazzorbo. Visitors can walk the vineyard and taste, and some tours arrive by boat. The estate presents its work as a way to keep the native lagoon alive, and it runs a newsletter for people who support the lagoon.
- Founded
- 2002
- Vineyards
- About 1 hectare (Mazzorbo, Venetian lagoon)
- Main grapes
- Dorona di Venezia; Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon for the red
- Owners
- Bisol family (Gianluca Bisol, founder)
- Winemaker
- Roberto Cipresso and Desiderio Bisol (enologists named on the estate site)