Schiopetto Mario

FAMILY HISTORY 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. And 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.