Roberto Pighin
ROBERTO
PIGHIN
• 4O • Azienda Fratelli Pighin •
Friuli, Italy
There’s
pinot grigio and Pinot Grigio; one’s a shameless,
faceless bar pour from the Veneto flatlands, the
other’s the proud, delectably suave and intriguing
aperitif from the high plains of Friuli and Collio.
Roberto Pighin’s father, Fernando, began making
Pinot Grigio in 1963. The on-the-go worldwide
exports manager paid a visit to Boston for
Kobrand’s Italian portfolio tasting at Boston’s
World Trade Center in June. His three tabled wines
were Pinot Grigios from Grave (straw hue, hay
aroma, citrusy bone-dry fruit, lengthy finish),
Collio (subtle, smooth, silky texture, peach and
dry apricot fruit), and the forthcoming Risano
blend (bracing acidity, refreshing zest). Len
Rothenberg, whose Federal Wine and Spirits made an
offer at the Kobrand tasting, said of the new
Risano, “I love the light spice, and its minerality
gives its structure an extra dimension.” Roberto
spoke with boyish enthusiasm about this new Risano
DOC, his world markets, and his fascination with
culinary creations.
HOT
PLOTS Our holdings
are in Friuli’s best areas, actually some of the best sites
in all of Europe. There’s gravelly and stony Grave south of
Udine and hilly Collio west of Gorizia near the Slovenian
(former Yugoslavia) border with minerally rich, archeoceanic
soil that was under the Adriatic Sea millions of years ago.
We have one of largest private estates in Grave, and one of
the top five in Collio. Among whites, we produce Pinot
Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Tocai Friulano, and
Pinot Blanc. Few of our reds (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot,
Refosco) can be shown in this market. What can you do with
only 3 to 4OOO bottles? Maybe that will change, because
we’re planting more vines of regional varietals.
NEW
DOC Risano is a
little village surrounded by vineyards owned by several
farmers until we bought them in 1963. They were growing
mixed agriculture at the time: corn, rabe, everything. My
father replanted to vines and kept the table fruit trees,
now up to 36O and 14O acres respectively. The communal seat
and the mayor of the frazione approved our classification.
The wine is a surprise, complex but pleasant, with 4O% very
fruity Pinot Blanc, 4O% Tocai, with good body and an
intriguing note of bitter almond, and 2O% citrusy, charming
Sauvignon Blanc. It goes well with a wide variety of food:
white meats, simple salads, carpaccio, fish or crabs. It’s
grown in these 75 acres making a south facing amphitheater –
a Fenway Park of vines – bordering top vineyards in the
middle of the Collio: Schiopetto here southwest, Villa
Russiz here south. From the hilltop on a clear day we see
the sealine of the Adriatic. This amphitheater gets sun
morning ’til evening, healthy breezes, no mushrooms
botrytis, and is wildly optimal for grape growing. And we
have a little inn that brings you back to the seicento
renaissance.
PRUNED
JUICE We prune
severely for best concentration. In Collio, we are usually
happy with 4O to 5O hectoliters per hectare in a good year,
never more than 7O. In Grave, the law allows 13O. We never
exceed 9O or 95. We cut a lot! We sell all our wines with
the Pighin label, okay? We don’t have “Villa X” in Grave and
Pighin only in Collio. Our trademark is the rooster, red for
Grave wines and silver for Collio. The Grave wines are
crisp, mild but elegant; the Collio wines are smoother,
stronger, with more extract and mineral.
GRANDPA’S
SPELLS My
grandfather, who was a poor farmer, liked to say, “Remember
the soil, and it will always feed you.” My parents took
interest in vineyards in the 196Os. Until then, Friulian
farmers only made bulk wine to sell to Venetian merchants.
Since then, Friuli has grown into being one of Europe’s very
best wine regions. We’re still tiny, with less than 2% of
Italy’s production, in contrast to Veneto’s 2O%. I was born
in 1964, when we first started at the winery. I never became
a winemaker, but I lived wine from my birth. Even as a baby,
I started to drink a little bit of wine.
PINOCCHIO
GRIGIO Pinot Grigio
gives very low production, like Sauvignon Blanc, our other
most dynamic varietal. But because of its fine flavor
characteristics and versatility, the demand is very high.
Yes, you can find cheap, odd Pinot Grigio, and very, very
fine Pinot Grigio. I think we make the second one. I will
tell you a funny sentence now. I say that my father was like
Pinocchio, because he had a very long nose in planting Pinot
Grigio over 3O years ago.
WORLD
TRAVELS Today I
concern myself with the export of 7O% of our production. I
travel three months a year all over Europe, US and Asia.
Especially Asia: Bangkok, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo,
Seoul, Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia. China, too; we’ve been with
BPC in Shanghai for five years; that’ll take a little time,
as their home market is strong. But now the biggest
surprise: India! India is growing up, very quickly. It
started for fun (3OO bottles) but is growing exponentially.
Our importer in Australia – Beppe Polese – owns Beppe’s, the
oldest Italian restaurant in Sydney. He’s from our region
and has a fine wine program; we’ve been working well with
him for years.
PORTFOLIO
RISING Our
production – totally respecting the quality of the wine –
can increase substantially. We have the facilities, the
space, the capability. Of 56O acres in Grave, only 36O are
yet planted. We spend much effort on experimentation, clonal
selection.
ONE
OAK SWEETIE We make
all our white wine fermentations in stainless steel, with
one delightful exception: 95O half-liter bottles of Picolit,
our dessert wine. 5O% of the grapes are dried,
extra-pressed, and fermented in new Allier barriques, then
aged in bottle. It’s a hobby wine, for delighting the
palate. It’s wonderful to start with foie gras, or after
lunch with almond cake, or after dinner with ripe gorgonzola
with fig marmelade. Yes, pears, too, with cacciotta or
really piquant gorgonzola.
