Collio

The production rules cite Herodian, who in AD 238 described vines married to apple, pear and fig trees and a bridge over the Isonzo made of wine vessels for the emperor Maximinus Thrax. Wine was collected as tribute under the Goths, the Lombards and the patriarchs of Aquileia, and notarial deeds of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries record gifts and sales of vineyards. Wine names appear in the 1600s: Ribolla and Cividino among whites, later Refosco and Corvino among reds. From the mid-1700s the Teresian Agrarian Society, and Giacomo Fabricio in particular, spread terraces called roncs.

Count Teodoro Latour founded modern viticulture in the second half of the 1800s by bringing in French and German varieties; in the early 1900s about 90% of the wine was white. After the Second World War the border with Yugoslavia split the hills into Italian Collio and Slovenian Brda, dividing many farms. The DOC was approved on 24 May 1968.

The Collio is the northern band of hills in the province of Gorizia, between the Isonzo to the east, the Judrio to the west and the Slovenian border to the north. About 1,500 ha are planted, only on hills of about 60-270 m, with slopes mostly of 15-30%, facing mainly south. The soil is flysch, Eocene and Paleocene rock raised from the sea bed, in four facies: marly, sandy, mixed and conglomeratic. Growers still find marine fossils. Marl and sandstone weather quickly into a fine soil that roots explore to 50-100 cm, sometimes 150 cm.

The Julian Prealps shield the hills and the Adriatic, about 20 km away, softens them. Rain is 1350-1400 mm, peaking in October-November. Well-exposed hills received about 5600 MJ/m² of sun a year in 1991-2002, against 4800 on the plain. Stable weather on about 200 days a year brings breezes that drain cool night air; the vine-killing -15 to -18 °C has not been reached in a century, and spring frost struck only in 1969, 1985 and 1997 in fifty years.

The rules say the territory gives white wines a pale straw colour, sometimes with lively green or more or less intense gold glints, clean and intense fruity scents, a soft feel and at times a light almond note, each reflecting its variety. They are made from sorted grapes, pressed gently and fermented off the skins at controlled temperature; wines meant for longer ageing get some skin contact and turn more golden and structured. The reds are bright ruby, often with a fine herbaceous note, and round in body, fermented on the skins for about a week. The rules credit the homogeneous flysch, mild climate and growers' choice of hill sites only.

The DOC lists Chardonnay, Malvasia (Istriana), Müller-Thurgau, Picolit, Pinot Bianco, Pinot Grigio, Ribolla Gialla, Riesling, Riesling Italico, Sauvignon, Friulano (formerly Tocai Friulano), Traminer Aromatico, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Pinot Nero; a varietal wine needs at least 85% of its grape, and "Cabernet" may include Carmenère. Collio Bianco and Rosso are blends, with aromatic Müller-Thurgau and Traminer limited to 15%. New vineyards need 4,000 vines per hectare and yields are at most 11 t/ha (4 t/ha for Picolit). All the wines are dry except Picolit. Whites labelled Riserva age 20 months; reds 30 months, six of them in wood.