BACKGROUND
Since the Middle Ages, there have been reports on the cultivation of Schioppettino, locally called sclopetin or Ribolla Nera, and the wine, produced in limited quantities, was sought after and renowned for its rarity and quality.
The Schioppettino, historically, was cultivated on an area of land limited to a few square kilometres. It was in fact common knowledge at the time that, if cultivated outside its area of origin, the Schioppettino would lose part of its finesse and spicy characteristics that made it unique.
For centuries, the Schioppettino was cultivated in Cialla and in the neighbouring area of Prepotto.
For centuries, the Schioppettino was cultivated in Cialla and in the neighbouring area of Prepotto. In the middle of the nineteenth century, with the advent of phylloxera (a phytopagus parasite of American origin that attacks and jeopardizes the root apparatus of the vine), the Schioppettino was almost completely destroyed. The winemakers of the time had no way to preserve some specimens from destruction: the variety was cultivated on a very limited territory that was not spared by the parasite. At such a crucial time in our wine history, we thought to replace the native varieties and to introduce the most famous French vines, much easier to cultivate and more productive. A rich documentation on this topic can be found by leafing through the various vintages between 1890 and 1930 of the periodicals of the Friulan Agrarian Association (organ of the Agricultural Institutions and of the Provincial Technical-Agrarian Commissions of Friuli and the Agrarian Society of Trieste).
In the face of its millenarian history, at the end of the 1960s, the Schioppettino had almost disappeared and was considered extinct by bureaucrats who did not even put it in the list of varieties allowed to be grown.