History

In 1935 the large swathe of land between Fossalta di Portogruaro and the Venetian Lagoon was largely abandoned and needed reclaiming. Gaetano Marzotto realised its potential and decided to create a huge agricultural complex which, measuring a thousand hectares, would be able to meet the growing demand for food products, naming the symbol of the family table and its wines after his beloved companion, Margherita Lampertico Marzotto.

The return to traditional cultivation of vines was in fact one of the founding choices of the new agricultural complex that set up a huge vinification cellar that represented the “state of the art” of the era and which was constantly updated and developed thereafter. A In that same period there was also a tangible change in the taste and food habits of Italians who were looking for very pleasant, less structured wines, with strong vineyard and territorial identities, which could be paired with a style of cooking that was becoming increasingly lighter and healthier. Santa Margherita thus picked out that area with great development potential in Alto Adige and Pinot Grigio as the leading proponent of the generation of wines consumers were waiting for.

The white wine vinification of Pinot Grigio (eliminating grape must-skin contact in the pressing process) was the result of that choice and of studies conducted in Alto Adige: an uninterrupted boundless success since 1961! After Pinot Grigio the new interpretations of Chardonnay and Müller Thurgau, proposed in a sparkling version, came along while in the Treviso hills area the local Prosecco sparkling wine was beginning to become a global "phenomenon". Santa Margherita in the years went for sustainability. An example? In Alto Adige where integrated farming methods were immediately adopted in order to eliminate use of basic chemicals; it aims for smaller, higher quality harvests; it invests in cleaning up the environment, combatting waste, safeguarding biodiversity and protecting the landscape.

The Refrontolo vineyard-garden is the latest example.