Zonin 1821, Italy's historic wine group, froze its debts as margins and demand fell

Zonin 1821 is a historic wine house from Gambellara, near Vicenza, with two centuries of history and one of the largest portfolios in Italian wine. Its estates stretch across the country — Ca' Bolani in Friuli, Castello del Poggio in Piedmont, Castello di Albola and Rocca di Montemassi in Tuscany, Masseria Altemura in Puglia and Principi di Butera in Sicily — covering about 1,500 hectares of vineyards. The group sold 84 percent of its wine on international markets.

The numbers deteriorated for years before the crisis broke. Operating cash flow fell from €29.2 million in 2020 to €7.6 million in 2023 and €4.3 million in 2024. In 2025 revenue was about €183 million, down roughly a tenth on the year before, against bank debt of €83 million. The group pointed to geopolitical uncertainty, US export tariffs and changing consumption patterns.

In April 2026 Zonin 1821 filed for the composizione negoziata della crisi, a voluntary out-of-court tool introduced by Italy's corporate-crisis code. It freezes the group's debts and opens an ordered negotiation with creditors for up to 240 days, overseen by an independent expert appointed by the Chamber of Commerce of Vicenza, to avoid insolvency. The group had already sold its Barboursville Vineyards estate in Virginia and appointed a turnaround chief executive, Maurizio Rossetti, to draw up a three-year plan.