Alpha Zeta C Chardonnay 2025
£9.75
The wine
Bright straw yellow, aromatic and concentrated, with a thread of minerality running through it. The palate is clean, fresh and fruit driven, medium-bodied, and finishes long.
Chardonnay from south-east facing sites at 250 to 300 metres in the Valpantena, the vines twenty to thirty years old and trained to a mix of the traditional Pergola Veronese and Guyot. Picked by hand and chilled on the way to the press with no sulphur added, gently pressed and settled naturally, then fermented cool at 15 to 18 degrees. No oak, which is the point: the wine is built on fruit and acidity.
The producer
Alpha Zeta
View all Alpha Zeta winesAlpha Zeta is a clever idea, beautifully executed. Founded in 1999 by the Master of Wine David Gleave and the acclaimed New Zealand winemaker Matt Thomson, the project set out to prove that the Veneto could deliver modern, characterful wines at genuinely everyday prices.
The approach is refreshingly direct. Rather than buying in finished wine, Alpha Zeta works hand in hand with growers in the hills around Verona, in the Valpantena and Alpone valleys, lowering yields and picking later for riper, cleaner fruit. Cool air spilling down from the foothills of the Dolomites keeps the grapes fresh and aromatic.
The name says it all. From A to Z, each wine is labelled by a single letter and made to show its grape and its place as clearly as possible: the crisp S Soave, the melon-scented C Chardonnay, the juicy V Valpolicella and the rich A Amarone at the summit. Most are sealed under screwcap to keep them bright and free of fault.
The result is a range that punches far above its price, fresh, honest and true to the Veneto. Proof that great everyday drinking and real quality need not be at odds.
