Lorenzo Menegus
Lorenzo Menegus, the seventh of eight siblings, was born in Padua in 1964 to his Paduan mother and Sanvitese father.
He was working at the Hotel San Marco di San Vito di Cadore in the Dolomites under the manager Gabriele Gallas when he discovered his passion for wine. This passion, along with his love of the mountain environment, stayed with him for more than 30 years.
Lorenzo worked at the Hotel for several summer and winter seasons and at Rifugio Palatini Scotter during the offseasons. In 1989, Lorenzo moved to San Vito and took a full-time job at the Hotel. In the same year, he married Mariateresa and they had their first child, Giacomo. In the next three years, he attended the first two professional sommelier courses at the Hotel Piroga in Padua. He concluded his studies at the Trattoria all’Amelia, Padua, which was owned by the president of AIS (Associazione Italiana Sommelier), Dino Boscarato.
After having worked at the Hotel San Marco as a bartender and wine curator for the restaurant, Lorenzo moved to Padua and then Dolo, where he has been living for 15 years.
At the suggestion of Francesco Perissinotto, the CEO of Gruppo Mangilli, Lorenzo had his first experience that eventually led to the Enoteca Millevini. The Enoteca Mangilli opened in the Marco Polo Airport in Venice and became a retailer of excellent wines. The Enoteca Mangilli sold both its own wines and grappa and the best Italian wines, which were taking over international markets at the time. These years were crucial for Lorenzo’s professional growth. He developed administrative and management skills and became incredibly knowledgeable on wine because of the opportunities he had to taste the most important Italian products and see the most prestigious wineries, including Antinori, Felsina, Biondi Santi, Anselmi, and Masi.
After 8 years Lorenzo moved to the historic center of Venice, where he met businessman Giorgio Turchetto and founded Enoteca Millevini. The wine shop was opened in 2002 and immediately became a point of reference in the city, thanks to Lorenzo’s professionalism, competence and for the great variety of both Italian products, particularly from the Veneto region and Amarone from Valpolicella, and foreign products, such as French wines, like Bordeaux and Champagne, liquors, a selection of the best whisky and rum, and a small selection of food. Each product sold at the Enoteca Millevini is tasted and selected by Lorenzo, whose refined taste and experience make this wine shop one of the best in Veneto.
During the first years, the shop was not only selling wine. Lorenzo would hold tasting events and teach courses open to the public with Tullio Moressa, the Millevini Distribution associate and great wine connoisseur. More recently, Lorenzo has also collaborated with Enrica Rocca, owner of a prestigious cooking school, as they took part in several Wine Pairing events.
Lorenzo has been managing Enoteca Millevini for 15 years. Thanks to these experiences, he has perfected and improved his skills. He met some of the most important people in the world of wine, such as Bartolo Mascarello and Giuseppe Quintarelli, participated in a great variety of tastings and visited the best wine cellars. Since listing all of them would be too long, here are only some of the names: the wineries in Champagne, Bourgogne, Piedmont, Tuscany, Friuli, Veneto, Marche, Trentino, Lombardy and Campania; among others, he has also visited Deutz, Scavino, Quintarelli, Antinori and Cantina Gregoletto, with which he has been working for 30 years.
