 Isonzo wines
The valley of the River Isonzo opens its world of
Grand DOC Wines, made by wine-producers renowned for their high quality standards.
A special universe, founded on the perfect harmony of elegant flavors and full tastes,
linked to the organolectic varietal characteristics.
The Consorzio per la Tutela e la Valorizzazione dei Vini DOC Isonzo (Consortium for Protection
and Appreciation of Isonzo DOC Wines) has guaranteed the excellence and
peculiarities of the area since 1974. 110 are the members of the Consortium
today; among them the best bottling factories of Friuli and the most
important wine-growers and producers in the Gorizia Province.
In order to specify the environmental peculiarities of Isonzo region, the Consortium
made close zone studies. Two homogeneous areas were defined, divided by
the river: on its left side, soils are rich of clay and red gravel, not very
calcareous, whereas white gravel makes the soils on the right side very calcareous.
The unifying element is nevertheless the river: it constantly
marks the ground with its floods and riverbed shifts
that add noble organic substances to the soil. The temperature is optimal
for agriculture: the sea works as thermo-regulator; the mountains surrounding
the valley prevent cool northern winds to blow.
Both black and white grapes grow perfectly: they give structure and color to red wines - intense and
velvety - to whites the most smart and harmonious aroma.
History
Which kind of vine-growing and winemaking tradition is there in the area of
Gorizia, or rather in the area of the " ISONZO" label of origin? There is no
doubt this tradition is quite ancient: in fact, it is well-known that
grapevine growing was started in our region at the time of the Romans who
settled in the territory of present Friuli, after having founded Aquileia
(181 BC) in the surrounding lowland.
But it appears that the first inhabitants of these regions - we are now in the realm of legends telling us
about the "Eneti", a people mainly dedicated to agriculture - might have
introduced grapevines coming from Greece, thus enriching their agricultural
activities with this important innovation.
Trading various cultivated produces, in fact, must have been very frequent already at that time, as
many historians attribute the origin of the name Isonzo, designating the
main river to be found in this area, to the Celtic name " Esos ", that of
the god of commerce.
Among the most ancient writers who wrote about the
existence of the famous Gorizia lowland wine, we can quote Pliny the Elder.
 In his " Natural History ", XIV/6, he mentions the Noble Pucinum Wine. The
historian Giuseppe Berini, in his "Survey on the state of the Timavo and its
surroundings at the beginning of the Christian era" printed in 1826, says
that in the Roman year 990 (237 AD), in order to delay the arrival of the
tyrant Maximian, the inhabitants of Aquileia destructed the bridge crossing
the Isonzo river in the area of Ronchi.
Therefore Maximian substituted it
with "empty wine containers put together in a bundle and covered with earth
and small branches" that had been collected in the surroundings. Another
historian, Basilio Asquini, in his "Geographical description of the
Monfalcone territory in Friuli" (Udine, 1741) describes the blossoming of
grapevine as follows "... in no other way thought does the marvelous
activity of this soil show up, than in the growing of plants, which are well
fed and therefore rich and big.
They may be seen almost everywhere:
Separately, grapevines are such that we believe none thicker or more fertile
would Bacchus be able to boast of as existing in his empire............
Besides wines may be kept easily from one year to the other without
suffering ANY DAMAGE due to the warm season: as long as they are stored in
cool and well managed wine cellars. We must also say that we had the great
privilege of discovering that the local people enjoyed these wines
themselves, so that they never subjected anything to calculations......
Some 17th century documents mention vines that are still cultivated nowadays:
when emperor Leopold I gave the fief of Cormons to the Locatelli family, in
other words the Estate of Angoris, the wines precisely mentioned already at
that time were Ribolla, Refosco and Verduzzo, the last two being currently
wines with the label of origin " Isonzo ".
 Production
Associates work together to strengthen the image and
the characteristics of their products by increasing their fame and raising
their quality. Grapevine growing is their starting point: only perfect
cropping gives Grand wines.Consortium's wine-producers focus on
specialisation: they grow no more than 8 varietal types of both
international and local grapes - famous and successful the former, with a
big potentiality the latter.
Vineyards are planned for non-extensive
growing, with a high density of plants (3500-4000 minimum an hectare);
plants are irrigated only when strictly necessary. Production is kept in
between 60 and 90 quintals a hectare. Cropping methods are advanced and
include grass planting in the vineyard, the organic integration of the soil
by employing mowing residues, grape thinning in two periods so as to obtain
a constant production, and the reduction of green lopping and irrigation.
To stress the intrinsic qualities of every particular vineyard with its own
peculiar characteristics, due to microclimate and pedological variability,
many wine-producers prefer to write the name of the grape on their bottle
labels, together with that of the vineyard.
This can also be seen in the
Consortium's aim to preserve every single vineyard as a precious patrimony
necessary to create a Grand Wine.
Unique and peerless, versatile but
nevertheless recognizable, just like the incessant flowing of the water of
the Isonzo.
Courtesy of
Vini Doc d'Isonzo
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