Rolling hills that draw a crescent on the lands of Friuli Venezia Giulia. It is the Collio region, in the far north-east, on the border between Italy and Slovenia, famous for its neat vineyards that climb between slopes and medieval villages, from San Floriano del Collio to Capriva del Friuli, from Dolegna del Collio to Cormons, from Ruttars to Pradis, from Lucinicco to Oslavia. Cross-border lands inhabited by strong and determined people.
David Buzzinelli , president of the Consorzio Tutela Vini Collio, Collio consortium which recently celebrated its 60th anniversary explains: “The Collio itself is a family. We are many small producers who collaborate with each other, the denomination is made above all by a large number of small producers. The Collio is a reality that is not only experienced by wine producers but there is a spirit of belonging even by the simple citizen of this territory”.
The Collio vineyard area is about 1300 hectares for a production of over 7 million bottles: 90 percent of the wines are white, the best known and most appreciated.
Paolo Corso , oenologist at Borgo Conventi, intervenes: “The main grape variety produced in terms of quantity and historically present in the Collio is Pinot Grigio, as are other international ones such as the white Sauvignon and Chardonnay, and the native Friulano, Ribolla, Malvasia. But there is no shortage of red grapes, even if they are a minority compared to the white ones: the main grape variety is Merlot, then important ones are Cabernet Franc and Pinot Nero”.
The main characteristics of the white wines are structure, freshness, intense aromas and strong minerality given by the ponca. They can be drunk young or even after a few years. The region is protected by the Julian Prealps , which limit the winds from the North while the nearby Adriatic Sea favors milder temperatures with significant temperature variations: an ideal climate for quality viticulture.
Fabian Korsic , of the Korsic Wines company: “Collio is a territory where we find fossils left by sedimentation in the sea of marl and sandstone. The result is a particular type of soil, ponca, cultivated with vines, which then gives salinity to the wines: a soil of prehistoric origin that was formed about 50 million years ago”.
In Friulian ponca literally means “that crumbles”. The name Collio means hill, and has always referred to the wine of the heights that rise close to the border between Italy and Slovenia. In Slovenian Brda.
Here too, the generational transition between winemakers is underway, which is not always easy. Ilaria Felluga , Russiz Superiore: “It is essential that the previous generation transmits its values, but the next generation must necessarily be passionate and want to continue the path that the family began many years ago”.
These lands were first Austria, then Italy. The First World War was fought here, then after the Second World War, the border marked a clear separation between the Western and Eastern blocs, until 1991, the year of Slovenia’s independence.
Robert Princic , of the Gradis’ciutta company, reiterates this: “It is a territory that has undergone great changes, first of all after the first and second world wars, then this new border line that has passed these hills, part in Slovenia, part remaining in Italy: this is the extreme North-East”.
This was a highly militarized and controlled area, where the will, determination and spirit of the producers were such that in just a few years they managed to make these wines famous throughout the world, also through the Collio consortium. Same vines in two neighboring states, same grapes.
Even if on the Italian side there was a strong focus on selling the wines in Italy and abroad, while the Slovenian side concentrated on the domestic market. This is how cross-border vines and wines were born: a typical example is Ribolla : Robert Princic : “On my part and that of a Slovenian producer friend, there was this experience of creating a cross-border wine, outside of all the denominations: a unique wine, an important project for me that has its own European value”.
