This Perusini Ronchi di Gramogliano Refosco is a medium to full-bodied wine with a deep ruby red colour and warm countryside aromas alongside red cherries and plums. It has a balanced acidity that pairs well with fatty meats like roast pork or bacon. The complex flavour of black cherries and undergrowth make it a standout choice.

About the Producer

In the last century when the fashion for French wines was still prevalent, Giacomo Perusini , grandfather of the current owner, began the selection and protection of some native vines (in particular Picolit). After his premature death in the First World War his work was continued by his wife Giuseppina Perusini Antonini, painter, writer, but also skilled businesswoman, who began the relaunch of Friulian wines on the national and international market. His son Gaetano, professor at the University of Trieste, continued and expanded research on agriculture and traditional vines, while his other son Giampaolo continued in particular the selection of Ribolla Gialla.

Today Teresa, Giampaolo's daughter, leads the company. Like her uncle and sister, she is an art historian but also a passionate winemaker. Today she is helped in managing the company by her husband Giacomo and her sons Carlo, Tommaso and Michele. Thus the family tradition continues on the Gramogliano hill known for centuries, like that of Rosazzo and della Rocca, as the cru hors class of the Colli Orientali del Friuli.

The Perusini company is among the 50 registered by the great Italian journalist Luigi Veronelli in the elite of historic Italian winemakers.

Vineyard and Winery

Made entirely from Refosco grapes, this ancient native vine, praised by Pliny, is the archetypal Friulian black grape. Its complex aroma ranges from black cherry to the hints of undergrowth typical of the grape variety. It is grown on the Ronchi di Gramogliano in Loam soils the locals call ponca. The vines are trained in the Single Guyot method and face in a south easterly direction. Yield is six tonnes per hectare.

The vinification took place in stainless steel tanks with specially selected yeasts. The temperature during fermentation was maintained at around 27° C. The wine was regularly punched down during the maceration period, which lasted for two weeks. At the end of the alcoholic fermentation the wine was pressed immediately and put back into stainless steel tanks, in which it underwent malolactic fermentation, half of the wine is then aged in oak barrels of second and third passage (no new oak) for around ten months.