Ronco del Gelso Pinot Grigio Sot lis Rivis 2006 – 2015
BY IAN D'AGATA |
Ronco del Gelso’s wines belong in the top tier of their respective categories. The Pinot Grigio Sot lis Rivis is an especially noteworthy white that once again proves that Italy’s best examples of its oft-maligned yet incredibly popular Pinot Grigio can be world-class drinks.
Like all the estates in Italy’s Friuli Venezia Giulia’s Isonzo appellation, Ronco del Gelso is not especially old. Viticulture was always very important in this area (dating back to Roman times), but the estate was founded only in 1972. Modern winemaking in Isonzo really began only in the 1970s. Ronco del Gelso is one of the many examples of the “new wave” of Friulian producers that have appeared on the scene over the last few decades.
Typical flatland vineyards of the Isonzo
A Little Bit of Isonzo History...
I often wonder just how much wine-lovers know about the history of some of Italy's winemaking regions. Their history is telling and often provides a useful perspective in appreciating what they are about today. For example, it's a miracle just how far Friuli has come in a relatively short time, and how important it is in its role as one of the economic engines that drive Italy's economy. Friuli is world famous for its wines and successful estates, but it wasn't always so. For example, not many might know that Friuli was the site of a major earthquake in May 1976 (6.5 on the Richter scale) that devastated areas north of Udine, leaving over 900 dead and 45,000 homeless. The whole basin of the Isonzo river was hit, going as far into Slovenia on Italy's eastern border. But the Isonzo river was also the scene of an almost endless series of fierce, gruesome battles during WWI. An unbelievable twelve different battles were fought on the Austro-Italian war border from June 23, 1915 to November 7, 1917 that are now collectively known and numbered as the "La Prima Battaglia dell'Isonzo, la Seconda Battaglia dell'Isonzo, ..." (which translates to the First Battle of the Isonzo, the Second Battle of the Isonzo, and so on…right down to the Twelth Battle of the Isonzo, if you can believe that). This last, twelfth, battle is better known as the Battle of Caporetto, which ranks, and is sadly famous for being, the single worst defeat in Italian military history. In fact, it is now a common Italian way of saying, when things go poorly (from the national soccer team losing a game badly to a business deal falling flat) that it was a "Caporetto". It is all the more impressive how Friuli and its people have always been able to bounce back from adversities. Today, Friuli is one of Italy's most industrious, prettiest and reasonably prosperous regions.
Ronco del Gelso’s wines belong in the top tier of their respective categories. The Pinot Grigio Sot lis Rivis is an especially noteworthy white that once again proves that Italy’s best examples of its oft-maligned yet incredibly popular Pinot Grigio can be world-class drinks.
