The bigger the wine world gets, the more I find myself intrigued with the hidden gems among “boutique” and family run wineries. These endeavors tend to forgo the large scale automated processes (which, in all honesty, I feel serve a purpose on some level), but instead embrace the use of estate fruit and manual vineyard practices.
Gradis’ciutta, its namesake derived from a hamlet within Italy’s Collio, is the winery of the Princic family who have been making wine there since the 1780’s. I had the pleasure of meeting current winemaker Robert Princic a few weeks ago, who immediately piqued my interest in the region and the corresponding winemaking practices. It’s clear to see his passion for the versatility that is provided by having several vineyard sites that entrust several varietals – indigenous or otherwise – all with their own varying elevations.
Their vineyards are right on the Slovenian border, and are all comprised within Collio, which is a sub-region of Italy’s larger Friuli Venezia Giulia region. In fact, the Princics are now farming 20 planted hectares out of the 30 currently owned by the family. From these 20 hectares, they produce thoughtful, high quality wines at approachable prices. They do this so well, that their Chardonnay has been featured in Wine Enthusiast magazine. Another thing Gradis’ciutta does well is adopt natural winemaking techniques to meet their standards of biocompatibility. These practices, while commonplace in European winemaking, are now gaining popularity among US wine consumers.
In addition to several other offerings, the Gradis’ciutta Friulano and the Chardonnay were the standouts that our team discussed the most. The Friulano is lightly perfumed with warm spice, but still has a delicate overall nature with an incredibly balanced acidity. The Chardonnay shows the traits of a very balanced vintage with a softer touch on the nose and the palate, due somewhat to a partial aging on the lees. The fruit comes from several hills with multiple facings of sun exposure to provide nice aspects of pear and apple with no oak influence as a result of the stainless steel aging.
If you’re looking to expand your horizons, these wines might be just the catalyst for you to try something new and noteworthy. Enjoy!
