Pighin: all new but... following tradition by Sostene Schena

"Un uomo non deve mai lasciare la terra come la trova" ("A man should never leave the land as he finds it") is the phase (written in block letters outside the Pighin cellar in Risano). And no one arriving there can fail to notice it. It is a phrase that encourages further thought, a phrase that only a visit to the wine estate makes clear. However, using the plural would be better, since Pighin has another property in the Collio). It embodies the spirit of harmony and respect for the land that in Friuli and among Friulians is perhaps more embedded and accentuated than elsewhere.
It's quite true that in this part of Italy terroir implies a vocation that consists of growing the best grapes for "important" white wines. But it is equally true that the human hand is what enables the vineyard to reach the highest results. Today, the region's people have made it possible to get even great reds, reds of the same caliber as those important whites, and they are already being talked about worldwide.
"All you need is genuine love for the land," says Fernando Pighin, the winery's president, "along with respect for tradition, centuries-old experience in winemaking and also, and above all, some ingenious intuitions where experimentation is concerned, to give dignified continuity to the cultural heritage that has grown along with wine history."
That is the path that Pighin has taken in recent decades. "A good wine is the result of excellent work on the land," Pighin continues, "because nature cannot always be completely controlled. We start from the assumption that quality must be part of everything we do, leaving nature to crown our achievements... or vice-versa. This is not simply company policy but a promise that, as facts can demonstrate, the Pighin family has always kept."
Of the 200 hectares (494 acres) owned by the winery, 150 are devoted to the growing of grapes and are situated in the commune of Pavia di Udine in the heart of Grave Friuli, absolutely one of the finest grape-growing areas in Europe.
In the Gorizian part of Collio, a further 30 hectares are located in an area blessed with fertile soil and in one of the sunniest and most attractive parts of the zone, the Spessa di Capriva hills. Both estates are equipped with vinification cellars for the premium grapes, grown by Pighin, that are solely and exclusively the ones used to make its wines.
Along with these vineyards goes another family jewel, the 17th century Villa Agricola on the Risano property, which not only harbors the experimental vineyard for indigenous vines and the cellar in which all the Grave reds are made but is also a great added value for the territory.
This farming estate, dating to the 17th century and based on the tenant-farming system, became the property of three Pighin brothers, Fernando, Ercole and Luigi, in the early sixties, and they converted it into a grape-growing and winemaking concern.
The Villa Agricola complex is now used as a center for public relations and cultural events and it also offers accommodations for winery guests. The layout and furnishings of its many guestrooms have remained the same as when this and other classical villas in Veneto were joyfully inhabited by the families of their owners. Here, once again, the Pighin family demonstrated its love of good taste and tradition.
On either side of the main building is a barchessa, a long arched farm annex, one of which has been recently restructured. Its 800 sq.m. now house a showroom, conference room and exposition area available for exhibits and events that may be extraneous to company life. On the lower floor, which amounts in area to more than 1,000 sq.m, are other family treasures, foremost among them the Pighin cellars. The barrels in different types of oak are kept in constant "activity" by a modern and efficient air-conditioning system that allow the pores of the wood to work continually during the aging of the wines. Adjacent to the cellar are other areas that play host to the wine museum and tasting room. Outside, to one side of the farm annex, enclosed within the ancient villa's walls and separate from the other vineyards is the experimental vineyard, comprising about a hectare. Here since the early eighties indigenous Friulian vines (a good 29 different varieties, 40% white and 60% red) have been cultivated and studied. Among the reds, some of the "Friulian thoroughbreds" have given exceptionally fine results, such as Cianorie, Faedis, Fumat, Negrat, Pignolo and Refosco del Peduncolo Rosso. These are wines that, thanks to this experimentation, may be further valorized in the extremely near future.
For the house of Pighin the "return to red" is a fairly new thing. In the late seventies wine production was equally divided between whites and reds, by the eighties becoming 20% red and 80% white. In the last 20 years or so, thanks to committed experimentation and the professional work done by the winery's production staff, headed by enologist Paolo Valdesolo and agronomist Manuel Bracco (carrying on the many decades of work done by Italo Signor), with the opportunities offered by Villa Agricola's experimental vine varieties, the winery has boosted its red wine output to 35% of the total. In fact, it was the pleasant surprises among the reds that encouraged the company to invest in its refinement and development while never neglecting overall production... starting with the whites.
And apropos of the whites, the Collio complex has been considering new varieties whose upcoming vintages, will permit further experimentation (like that done on the reds) to get white wines with even more interesting and particular traits... while always respecting their typical features. So more new things are coming from the Pighin forge! First of all, converting about 80% the vineyards of both estates-Risano in the Friuli Grave DOC zone and Spessa di Capriva in the Collio DOC zone-from the traditional free Silvoz (Casarsa) growing method to Guyot, with 4,500 vines per hectare (1,822 an acre).
"While getting excellent results with our other typical reds (like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Refosco)," adds Fernando Pighin, "we also created a new one, Riserva Villa Agricola that comes from long and careful experimentation and extensive valorization work, from vineyard to bottle; it was born and bred inside the villa's ancient walls. It is made from grapes grown in Grave, from our finest red grapes, among which Refosco is the leader. Riserva Villa Agricola made its debut with the 2005 vintage and immediately won acclaim and awards, which gave us great satisfaction. It is just one example of the wine potential of our Friuli, Already renowned for its white wines, it is now getting kudos for its reds."
Among the honors bestowed on Villa Agricola we can cite the bronze medal at the Decanter World Wine Awards 2006 in London, the silver medal at Vinalies Internationales 2006 in Paris and another silver at the International Wine Challenge 2006 in London. In 2005 it won a gold medal in Germany at Mundus Vini.
Such high recognition is more than justified because the Pighin winery has always striven to enhance and update its grape-growing and winemaking methods, without ever forgetting family traditions.
"In my opinion," says Fernando's son Roberto, "wine shouldn't be trendy but traditional: this is our philosophy, it always has been and always will." In addition to Villa Agricola, the winery jewel, two more innovative wines have been created with an excellent price/quality ratio and fine quality: Terre di Risano Bianco DOC and Terre di Risano Rosso DOC.
An outstanding price/quality ratio is another of the values the company has always deliberately respected. And this allows the Pighin family to look to the future with the dignity and constancy in workmanship that is reflected in excellent products.
At the present time 70% of output is destined for export, entrusted to numerous importers in major countries and sold on a large scale even in Asia.
"There's great fragmentation on the Asian market," explains Roberto Pighin, "since these are countries that have approached fine wine only recently but are now steadily on the rise."
Pighin is an integral part of the Grandi Vini Group, a consortium of wineries not competing with one another whose vineyards are located in Italy's premier wine districts. One of their aims is to promote Italian wines on developing markets, with a special eye on Asia.
And so Pighin is a company where nothing is left to chance. It constantly strives to get the best from the vineyard and the territory and today, as always, it is projected toward the future, never losing the continuity initiated by the three Pighin brothers in 1963. Continuity that is ensured by the present generation, which has all the right stuff to go forward.

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