Today’s Wine Wednesday is dedicated to the winery Vigna Petrussa from Friuli Venezia Giulia. Located in the Friuli Colli Orientali, I first heard of the winery in 2007 when I had my first real job in the wine industry. I worked for their importer at the time, the now defunct Dancing Bear Cellars. I remember meeting the owners and loving the wines. Fast forward 15 years and I am at a Go Wine tasting in Milan on March 22 with a friend at a walk around tasting of wines from Friuli. Vigna Petrussa is super well-known for their Schioppettino which hails from Prepotto, the home of this important indigenous grape.

The winery has been run since 1995 by Hilde Petrussa. The soils here are known as Ponka, sedimentary soils dating back to the Eocene era that is quite friable. In the past I have tried some of their other wines but at this particular tasting I tried one called Rebusson and their Refosco del Peduncolo Rosso. Rebusson is a new one, not yet available here in the USA. It’s a blend of indigenous red grapes.

Interestingly enough, they were showcasing Refosco del Peduncolo Rosso rather than their Schioppettino. The Refosco was a deep ruby red wine with a fantastic bouquet of red fruit and spice, as well as fine tannins, and a long finish. It would have been perfect with aged cheese.

In terms of winemaking, the winery is both traditional and innovative. They focus on indigenous varieties and favor less intervention rather than more. The winery is located in the Judrio Valley and has strong air currents and a strong thermal excursion in terms of diurnal temperature changes. These elements help keep grapes healthy. They are also certified as a sustainable winery under SNPQI protocols. “The SQNPI brand (National Quality System for Integrated Production), conceived by the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies, has the dual objective of adding value to the product and assuring the consumer that our company cultivates grapes according to agronomic techniques that respect the environment and human health, or “Sustainable Quality”,” according to the Vigna Petrussa website.