Somewhere in the northeast corner of Italy — 500 meters from the Slovenian border, an hour and a half from Venice, tucked into a green valley of gentle hills and marine-origin soils, there’s a winery run entirely by women. It has been, in one form or another, for over 150 years.
And at its heart is a grape that was once illegal to grow.
I sat down with Francesca Mecchia of Vigna Petrussa to talk about the Schioppettino — a grape so rare, so distinctly tied to its tiny corner of the world, that its very existence was nearly erased. What I got was something far bigger: a story about resilience, inheritance, and what happens when women refuse to let things disappear.
A Winery Built by Women — Three Generations Deep
The story of Vigna Petrussa begins with Francesca’s great-grandfather, who owned a large property with diverse activities — a mill, horses, farmland, and vines. But with nine children, the land was divided like a cake, each piece going to a different heir. The portion that passed to Francesca’s grandparents was modest. And when her grandfather died, her grandmother was left to run it alone.
“None of the local men wanted to help her,” Francesca explained. “Working under a woman was not acceptable then.” Her grandmother found support near the Slovenian border — a family that still works with them today.
When Francesca’s grandmother began to age, her mother — an elementary school teacher — started making the drive every weekend to help. Eventually, she made the decision to move back entirely, immerse herself in the winery, earn her sommelier credentials, and learn the land from the ground up.
“She became like a totally different woman,” Francesca said of her mother. “Stronger, more stubborn, full of passion.”
Then came Francesca herself — an architect, trained and working internationally — who received the same message her mother had once received from her grandmother: it’s time to come back.
She did. And she brought with her an international perspective on how wine is drunk, how markets work, and how a small family estate can find its place in a rapidly changing world.
Three women. Three chapters. One unbroken thread.
The Middle of Nowhere — and Why That Matters
“I always say we are in the middle of nowhere,” Francesca laughs, “because really everybody knows it, but not many people come to visit. And that’s a shame.”
The Colli Orientali del Friuli sits in Italy’s far northeast — a region of rolling hills that peak around 250 to 300 meters, bordered by Slovenia on one side and the Dolomites to the north. The climate is cool and often rainy, with fresh mountain winds meeting sea breezes that keep disease pressure low and vines healthy. Temperatures can swing 15 degrees Celsius between day and night — a gift for aromatic complexity and freshness in the wines.
But the real secret is underground.
The soils here are called ponka — a local name for the Eocene-era flysch: thin, fragile layers of marl and sandstone that crumble under rain and tractor weight, releasing minerals slowly into the vines. Francesca describes it beautifully: “Like millefoglie — the Italian pastry made with many thin layers. Under the weather and the tractor, it breaks into thousands of pieces, releasing a lot of minerality.”
That minerality — saline, almost oceanic — is a signature of every wine Vigna Petrussa makes.
The Grape That Almost Didn’t Survive
Before Schioppettino, there was Schioppettino — and then there was almost nothing.
The phylloxera epidemic that devastated European vineyards in the late 19th century wiped the grape nearly out of existence. What remained was quietly maintained by just one family in the village of Prepotto, even after the variety was removed from the official list of approved cultivars. Growing it was, technically, illegal.
It took until around 2003 — following years of painstaking work by a consortium of local producers, researchers, and passionate advocates — for Schioppettino di Prepotto to be recognized as its own DOC subzone. The area around Prepotto, a tiny village between the towns of Cormòns and Cividale del Friuli, was identified as the grape’s spiritual home: the terroir that best expresses its most defining trait, that vivid spice of black and green pepper.
There are now approximately 23 producers in the denomination. Vigna Petrussa is among the most dedicated — and arguably the most obsessed.
The name itself tells you something. Schioppettino comes from scoppiare — to burst, to explode. Named for the way the small, thick-skinned berries pop in your mouth with a satisfying crunch.
Four Faces of One Grape
If Francesca’s mother has a passion for Schioppettino, she has, as Francesca puts it with a smile, “an obsession.” Vigna Petrussa produces not one, not two, but four distinct expressions of the grape — each revealing a different dimension of the variety.
Rinera The entry point. Vinified in stainless steel with no wood influence, Rinera (named because the variety’s alternate name, Ribolla Nera, could no longer legally appear on labels) is Schioppettino in its most transparent form: crunchy red fruit, bright acidity, a whisper of pepper, and that characteristic lightness that makes it incredibly food-friendly. It spends a minimum of one year in bottle before release. Perfect as an aperitif, or chilled slightly with summer food.
Schioppettino di Prepotto This is the “star of the area,” as Francesca calls it — the denomination’s flagship expression and Vigna Petrussa’s most celebrated wine. By regulation, yields are capped at 1.5 kilos per plant (from a vine capable of producing five), and the wine must age a minimum of 18 months in large wood barrels, plus one year in bottle.
The winery uses old, large-format wooden casks deliberately — so that wood integrates without overshadowing the grape. On the nose: violet, forest floor, dark fruit, and that unmistakable green-and-black pepper. In the mouth: silky tannins, elegant structure, a mineral thread from the ponka, and a finish that lingers with precision and grace. It can pair with everything from mushroom risotto to seared tuna to Sichuan-spiced dishes — and it can be slightly chilled without losing a thing.
Riserva Produced only in the finest vintages, the Riserva spends three years in tonneau (medium-format all-wood barrels) plus one year in bottle. One might expect a bold, powerful wine — but Francesca takes a different approach. “It’s a female winery, so we tend to have a lighter wine. Where we point out on wines that are elegant.” The Riserva is more floral, more refined — a wine to drink slowly, to think about, to let evolve in the glass.
Perla Nera The fourth expression — and the most surprising. Perla Nera, meaning “Black Pearl,” revives a tradition that dates back to Francesca’s great-grandfather’s era, when men hunted wild game and Schioppettino was dried to make a richer, more robust wine for celebratory meals. A portion of the grapes is dried for one month before fermentation, then the wine ages three years in barrique. The result is rounder, deeper, more intense — with dried fruit, earthiness, and a gentle richness that pairs beautifully with aged cheeses, pâté, or roasted duck. It is also available in 500ml bottles, reflecting its origins as a special-occasion wine rather than an everyday pour.
Beyond Schioppettino
The passion for indigenous varieties extends across the entire portfolio. The Friulano (once called Tocai, before Hungary claimed the name) is vinified seven months in large old barrels and can age for five to seven years — an elegant white of little white flowers, dry almonds, and mineral depth. The Ribolla Gialla is vinified half in wood, half in steel for a lively, citrusy expression. Malvasia here is more mineral than aromatic — a reflection of the ponka soils. And Requienza — a blend created by Francesca’s mother 20 years ago from ancient indigenous varieties planted in small quantities by her ancestors — can age up to 15 years, a multi-layered testament to place and memory.
On the red side, Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso offers a fascinating contrast to Schioppettino: where the latter is precise and elegant, Refosco is generous and juicy, with cherry-berry richness and jammy warmth. Thirty percent of the grapes are dried for a month before vinification; the remainder ages in tonneau for three years.
And then there is Picolit — perhaps Friuli’s most storied dessert wine. Only about 10 to 12 producers still make it. The grape’s floral abortion means that four vines yield just one 375ml bottle. Sweet, velvety, layered with dried apricot, and finished with a surprising lemon-zest brightness that keeps it from heaviness. It is exactly what a great dessert wine should be: generous without being cloying, complex without being exhausting.
Farming, the Moon, and the Limits of Prediction
Vigna Petrussa is SQNPI-certified — a sustainability program that prohibits synthetic pesticides and demands careful attention to the vineyard ecosystem. Almost all work is done by hand. The team is small, experienced, and flexible enough to make a harvest decision at 6pm for 7am the next morning.
They also pay attention to the moon cycles — not as mysticism, but as practical tradition. “We always try to bottle with the moon correct, because otherwise the wines take longer to settle,” Francesca explains. They’ve even noticed that certain corners of the cellar — near an underground stream — cause wines to move restlessly, never settling. So they move the barrels.
Climate change has upended even the most practiced rhythms. In recent years: one year with almost no rain, the next with violent, concentrated storms. A year when spontaneous fermentation began in the vineyard before anyone expected it. And 2024 — a harvest that finished not in mid-October as usual, but on September 22nd. “We were all surprised. All rushing, hysterical,” Francesca laughed. “You need to mix technology with your experience and your tradition. That is super important.”
Finding Vigna Petrussa
Vigna Petrussa’s wines are exported to the United States.
If you ever come across Schioppettino on a wine list or at a wine shop, order it.
Especially if you love:
Pinot Noir
Cabernet Franc
Cool-climate Syrah
Peppery reds
Earthy, food-friendly wines
If you’re lucky enough to come across the Picolit, treat yourself.
And if you ever find yourself in the northeast corner of Italy — an hour and a half from Venice, 500 meters from Slovenia, in the middle of nowhere — go visit.
Vigna Petrussa is a boutique family winery in Prepotto, Colli Orientali del Friuli, Italy. Find them at vignapetrussa.it or on Instagram and Facebook @vignapetrussa.
