The Michelin-starred property in historic Venice that offers something quite out of the ordinary…
Nestled on the tranquil island of Mazzorbo, just a short vaporetto ride from Venice, lies Venissa, a unique blend of a Michelin-starred restaurant, a casual osteria, a boutique hotel, and a vineyard that tells a story as rich as its wines.
The star of Venissa’s culinary scene is its Michelin-starred restaurant, a haven for seafood lovers. The menu is a love letter to the lagoon, showcasing dishes that feature invasive species like blue crab, turning an ecological challenge into a culinary delight. While they can cater to vegetarians, the focus here is firmly on the bounty of the sea, with no meat on the menu.
For a more relaxed experience, the osteria offers traditional Venetian fare in a casual setting, making it the perfect spot for a leisurely lunch or relaxed dinner after exploring the colourful buildings, artisan glassware and handmade linens of neighbouring Burano (don’t miss the onion tart cicchetti).
But Venissa is more than just a culinary destination. Inspired by the property’s monastic wine making past, Venissa’s walled vineyard is a testament to the island’s rich history and resilience. Covering just 0.8 hectares, the vineyard produces the rare Dorona grape, a varietal once thought to be extinct. The grape itself was rediscovered through a chance encounter, and nurturing it back to life was a many-years-long labor of love that has paid off beautifully. As one might imagine, Venice’s salt water-soaked terroir and frequent floods provide a challenging landscape to cultivate vines amongst, but the Dorona de Venezia grape has evolved to survive the incredibly harsh environment.
Despite its tiny size, the vineyard’s topography creates marked differences in the grapes grown, resulting in two distinct wines with different methods of vinification. Half of the vinyeard sits just half a meter higher than the other (the vines sit at 1m and 0.5m above sea level, respectively) and is bottled under the ‘Venusa’ label, with 24 hours of skin contact. The lower level, closer to the salt water, yields grapes that are more concentrated and mineral, owing to their struggle. The resulting wine, bottled under the signature ‘Venissa’ name and boasting labels hand crafted from precious metals, is truly one-of-a-kind. The ‘Venissa’ undergoes 24 days of maceration, resulting in a bold, complex flavour and colour, akin to an orange wine. In total, the vineyard produces just 5000 bottles of white wine per year, with 3000 of those being just 500mL each.
Wine tasting and a vinyeard tour at Venissa is an experience not to be missed for wine enthusiasts. Alongside their exquisite whites grown on property, they also produce Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon Bordeaux-style blends, again under the two labels. The grapes are sourced from the nearby island of Santa Cristina, one of the highest points of the entire lagoon. Each bottle captures the essence of the lagoon, making every sip a journey through the truly unique terroir of Venice. The challenges of growing grapes in such a saline-rich environment add layers of complexity to the wine, making Venissa’s offerings truly stand out in the world of viticulture.
To find out more and book your visit, visit the Venissa website here.