Vignai da Duline, a Slow Food "Chiocciola" company, needs to be protected. Protection and enhancement of the territory, to be preserved as uncontaminated as possible, are the cardinal principles that led Lorenzo Mocchiutti and Federica Magrini, in 1997, to undertake this splendid border wine adventure. The approximately six hectares of property, located between the municipalities of San Giovanni al Natisone (a hamlet of Villanova del Iudrio) and Manzano, a few kilometres from Cormons and the Slovenian border, are run according to biodynamic principles and are concentrated around two historic crus, La Duline and Ronco Pitotti, with strains over eighty years old.
Very high quality, low yields, very careful selection, and of course a unique and beautifully enhanced terroir, were the reasons Luigi Veronelli fell in love back then, and are the same reasons why now many fans of healthy and complete wine have fallen in love. The vineyards, grassed and surrounded by woods, grow on the typical soils of the Friuli, marl, sandstone, pebble hills, and in short, destined by nature to give vertical and mineral wines without compromise.
The vineyard of Malvasia Istriana, in the locality of Duline, is a forest. Vignai, in fact, respecting the vegetative cycle of the vines, do not trim the plants, which abound in foliage. The name says it all: Chioma Integrale (full crown). From vineyards that have never seen any chemicals - or, at least, for forty years now - this Malvasia benefits, due to its gentle aroma, its fruit and its decisive mineral thickness, from its calcareous soils and its high average age of plants, which reaches half a century.
Naturally vinified spontaneously and with indigenous yeasts, Chioma Integrale tells of a perfect balance between density and verticality. A faithful mirror of the characteristics of each vintage, it ferments in wood - where malolactic fermentation also happens - and then rests for about eight months, again, between barriques and oak barrels.
Of a visibly incisive straw-colour, the bouquet evokes white peach and citrus fruits, but the overwhelming subtext is of aromatic and medicinal herbs, iodine, salt and full minerality. Vibrant on the bouquet, it is also on the palate. Here there is an explosion of flavour and freshness that immediately makes us aware of the great evolutionary potential of this wine. And then the aromatic returns of sage, citrus fruits and iodine, enriched with a well recognisable vein of dried fruit, guarantee the incisiveness and length of persistence.
