Wines
Schiopetto
Friuli (Collio)
Azienda Agricola Mario Schiopetto is one of the oldest wine estates in the Collio area. Mario Schiopetto founder of the estate, travelled throughout Europe in the 1950s, collecting knowledge and experience from French and German wineries. He adapted much of what he learned to making wines in Friuli, especially in the use of stainless steel to make fresh crisp wines. Today, the estate is run by Mario’s three children: Maria Angela, Giorgio and Carlo and owns more than 75 acres of vineyards sourrounding the former residence of the Bishop of Gorizia in Capriva del Friuli.
The Schiopetto family has been in the wine business for three generations. Giorgio Schiopetto, who owned Ai Pompieri, a famous old inn in Udine, passed on to his son Mario his love of good wines, which was to bring him renown as the founding father of modern wine-making in the Friuli region. Before turning to wine making, Mario travelled far and wide in Europe in search of quality wines in the famed German and French wine cellars. It was German technology blended with French finesse that enabled him to realize his dream. During his travels abroad Mario learned the art and refined methods of making excellent wines. But skill and know-how, even when applied with passion, are not always enough. They have to be painstakingly adapted to a different environment and climate - a different region with a unique terrain like that of the Collio Goriziano area. Self-taught and gifted with exceptional intuition, Mario Schiopetto launched into the wine business in 1965 when he rented from the clergy in Gorizia an old company that he later purchased in 1989. He promptly converted it into a shining example of simplicity, technology and sensitivity. Here he enhanced and developed the know-how and skills he had acquired during his travels abroad, invaluable experience that he passed down to his children Maria Angela, Carlo and Giorgio, who successfully run the company today.
Started in 1989, the new winery was the brainchild of Mario Schiopetto. With a design based more on practicality than aesthetics, the rooms and areas are arranged logically according to the various stages of wine-making right up to the bottled product. Completed in 1992, this purpose-built winery is the ideal place for achieving perfect results in terms of technology, functionality and safety.
Carlo, Maria Angela and Giorgio
