Petrussa Schioppettino di Prepotto Brischis 2022
We have 12 in stock (Inventory is live and accurate)
The Land
Monte Brischis is the high ground of the Petrussa estate, and at 320 meters it sits well above the family's valley-floor vineyards along the Judrio. The site crowns a hill in the northern belt of the Prepotto valley, on rocky, calcareous soil the family identifies as Flysch di Grivò, near-neutral in pH and only moderately fertile. Wind moves through it constantly, and it takes sun for most of the day. Where the family's Albana parcel is warm, sandy alluvium that pushes ripeness, Brischis is stone and exposure: the rock and modest fertility keep vigor in check, and the air keeps the fruit clean. The vineyard covers 1.5 hectares and is the newest chapter in the family's Schioppettino, a single-vineyard counterpoint to the multi-site bottling.
The Wine
Petrussa Schioppettino di Prepotto Brischis 2022 is 100% Schioppettino from a single vineyard, a new bottling alongside the family's blended Schioppettino di Prepotto. The vines were planted in 2019 using three clones and two identified biotypes of the grape, chosen to build complexity into the vineyard itself rather than the cellar. Petrussa has not published separate cellar details for this cuvée. Expect a darker register than the standard bottling: allspice, clove, dusty cherry, and dried rose on the nose, then a silky, medium-bodied palate of black fruit, cracked pepper, and a saline, stony edge, closing on violets. The 2022 season was among the hottest and driest on record in northern Italy, and a windy hilltop at 320 meters is the kind of site that tends to hold freshness through that heat.
The People
Planting Monte Brischis in 2019 was a statement from a family that could have rested on what it had. The Petrussas have farmed in Albana di Prepotto since the early 1900s, and brothers Gianni and Paolo have run the estate since 1987, Gianni in the vineyards and Paolo in the cellar. Rather than plant a single clone, they set out the hilltop with three clones and two local biotypes, a bet on diversity over uniformity. Prepotto growers hold that this valley is where Schioppettino began, with the wine recorded on noble tables as early as 1282. Brischis is the brothers' answer to what a high, rocky site can add to that long history.
Food Pairing
Give Brischis a meal with some weight and some spice. Roast leg of lamb studded with garlic and rosemary and rubbed with cracked black pepper meets the wine's pepper head-on while the acidity lifts the fat. Mushroom and chestnut ragù over fresh pappardelle draws out the earthy, dusty-cherry side. Pork belly glazed with balsamic and served with braised red cabbage works because the wine's fresh acidity cuts the richness and the dark fruit meets the glaze. Open it on a cold Saturday when dinner runs long and the second glass matters more than the first.
We ship wine to most states with a $100 minimum order for shipping. We don't ship spirits nor beer.
Weather shipping advisory: Orders placed during times of extreme heat or extreme cold will be held for no charge until more favorable weather returns.
Schioppettino is a red grape native to Friuli's Colli Orientali, especially around Prepotto near the Slovenian border, where it is also called Ribolla Nera. It was nearly lost after phylloxera and survived thanks to a handful of growers in the 1970s and an official rescue of the variety. The name is said to come from the way its crisp, bursting berries 'crack' like a shot. The wines are medium-bodied and peppery, with wild berries, violet and dark spice, fresh acidity and fine tannins, closer in spirit to northern Rhône Syrah than to anything else in Italy.
