Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
percent of the vines planted there. The Rieppi
family is a centuries' old dynasty of Albana, and
though the estate is no longer in that family's
possession (it was bought by a talented and pas-
sionate winemaker, Lino Casella), its history is
closely linked to Schioppettino. In the 1960s
and 1970s, the Rieppi wines were highly
thought of, and Maria Rieppi was considered
an excellent winemaker. Her brother-in-law,
Luigi Rieppi, tried planting Schioppettino near
Buttrio but didn't meet with success, in his
words a sign that Schioppettino is not a variety
that travels particularly well; this was some-
thing that Poggi, in his 1939 treatise on Friuli
viticulture, had already noticed, writing that at
just a few kilometers away from the Prepotto
terroir,
the wine wasn't as interesting. The
Rieppi family was therefore intimately linked to
Schioppettino and its wines, and in 1979, in
recognition of her efforts on behalf of Schiop-
pettino, Maria Rieppi was awarded the prestig-
ious Risit d'Aur, an award created by the No-
nino family of worldwide grappa fame as a
means to recognize all those who persevered on
behalf of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region and
its native cultivars. Another recipient of the
Risit d'Aur, in fact of the award's fi rst edition in
1976, had done even more for Schioppettino.
Dina and Paolo Rapuzzi arrived in the ham-
let of Cialla in 1970 and singlehandedly did
more for a specifi c
terroir,
and later a DOC,
than perhaps anybody else anywhere in Italy.
Cialla, whose name derives from
cela
(stream,
in Slovenian), has a unique microclimate, with
fewer sunlight hours and heat units than many
other parts of the region, but is temperate none-
theless, so much that even olive trees manage
to grow there. Furthermore, Cialla being fairly
isolated, it had a long-standing association with
the production of quality wines from local
native varieties, and its steep slopes had always
been dotted by terraced vineyards. Documents
from 1496 reveal that the wines of Cialla were
appreciated by nobles in Cividale and Venice,
and so the Rapuzzis (a new generation is slowly
taking over, with sons Piepaolo and Ivan more
involved each year) set out to produce wines
from Refosco del Peduncolo Rosso, Picolit, Ver-
duzzo, and of course Schioppettino. Paolo
Rapuzzi had heard the local old-timers marvel
about Schioppettino wine, but there were very
few grapevines left. His next step was to scour
the countryside of both Friuli Venezia Giulia
and Slovenia, ferreting out old vines; he then
had about one hundred grafted by the Rauscedo
nursery and planted an entire single vineyard
to the variety. Thus Schioppettino was reborn:
the Rapuzzis' stroke of genius was in recogniz-
ing the merits of the variety, that it was good
enough to stand on its own rather than be used
solely in blends.
The Rapuzzis' initial production of schiop-
pettino in 1977 met with instant success and
many awards, as well as much positive press
later on. Their estate is considered one of the
quality leaders in not just Friuli Venezia Giulia
but all of Italy. Even better, others soon fol-
lowed; by the 1980s, a few estates were once
again producing signifi cant quantities of Schi-
oppettino wine. Undoubtedly, it is the Rapuzzis
who showed people the way. I state this clearly,
to set the record straight, because I have heard
far too many times in the last ten years that
other producers had rows and rows of Schiop-
pettino and everyone knew of the wine's quality
and were believers. That's just not so: and even
though I understand that Schioppettino is
becoming something of a cult wine, and every-
one wants to jump on the bandwagon, I think
that credit needs to be given where credit is due
(and without forgetting Maria Rieppi, like most
everyone does). In the end, what matters most
is that success has arrived, and Schioppettino
grapevines and wines are back from the dust-
bin of memory, infusing new life in the econo-
mies of Prepotto and Albana (as well as other
parts of Friuli Venezia Giulia, all making Schi-
oppettino wines now). In this light, that about
twenty local producers have joined forces to
form the Association of Prepotto Schioppettino
Producers to promote the wine and the produc-
tion zone is further good news.
Honestly, looking at Schioppettino you
couldn't be blamed for wondering what the fuss
