Tenuta Borgo Conventi, hidden gem of the Collio

Hello everybody,

Saturday I had the chance to go to Tenuta Borgo Conventi in Friuli Venezia Giulia. It was a beautiful day, sunny, clear skies, lovely wind cooling us down and friends to share this experience with.

The new entrance to Tenuta Borgo Conventi

Tenuta Borgo Conventi was founded in 1975 by Gianni Vescovo, an entrepreneur with a passion for Collio wines who brought this small winery up to fame in the Italian market but also world wide. Then in 2001 the Folonari family (owners of Ruffino) came forward and bought the estate, bringing further expansion into new, overseas markets.

The wines produced are cornerstones of Friuli, Ribolla Gialla, Friulano, Malvasia but also international varities are planted suchs as Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. The "Linea Fiori" (flowers lineup literally) is what brought this small winery into the spotligth, fresh, fruity, Friuli terroir expressing wines that bring the drinker on these gentle rolling hills, standing on the Ponca soil (a marl and sandstone soil typical of Collio) overlooking the vineyards and breathing in Collio. Also reds from Schioppettino and Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso are made.

Sadly with the passing of time this sparkle was a bit lost, passion fades and so does the market interest, demonstrated by the production being down to 90000 bottles a year.

In 2019 Villa Sandi buys the estate from the Foradori, recognizing the potential of this vineyards and the human capital. 

The vineyards are put back into shape, new ones are planted in front of the villa with Sauvignon Blanc, starting to give its first fruits just now; straight in the middle of this vineyard a gravel road with cypresses on its side is built, Tuscan style. The wines are still great, case in point the Sauvignon Blanc Collio 2019 vintage wins "Tre Bicchieri" of Gambero Rosso, they just need a little push, which comes from the Moretti Polegato family, boosting sales and therefore production up to 300000 bottles a year with an intent of expanding even more.

Anyways, there I was, going down the gravel road into the villa, under the morning sun. I got invited just a few days prior, I was told there was going to be a few other people but I didn't really know what to expect.

The place is incredible, the pink villa sits in front of the actual winery, sorrounded by vineyards (and in one of the vineyards sits a planetarium and star observatory!). There were a lot of people which I later learned were all employees of Tenuta Borgo Conventi and Villa Sandi and this was a get together that had been planned for a couple of years but was halted by the pandemic.

One of the upper rooms of the Villa

We did a quick tour of the villa (stunning) and the down into the winery, fairly small at first glance from the outside but most of it is underground so what you see is really just the storage area and where the bottling line is. Underneath sits the press, during harvest grapes are tipped into a chute and they fall into the press, an old school but efficient method to crush the grapes and extract the free run juice.

Temperature controlled stainless steel tanks

The winery is equipped with loads of stainless steel temperature controlled tanks of various sizes, ideal for making fresh wines retaining primary characteristics, but don't be fooled, hidden away behind the tanks is one of the most suggestive and romantic barrique room I've ever seen. Dimly lit by candles, humid and cool air allows for the gentle maturation of wines in barriques, originally French but now being slowly replaced by American oak to give a sweeter, more pronounced mark on the wine. The toasting is medium or light not to overrun the delicate aromas of some of the wines made.

On the side of the walls sit bottles locked in cages, but not just any bottles, old vintages, reserves, experiments that never saw the light of day to be tasted, compared, assesed in their ageing. They tempt you, taunt you, with a layer of dust on top of them like a relic in a forgotten temple, there only for the mighty and worthy winemakers that will decide the future of all wines made by tasting the result of years of slow oxidation and development.

I sadly left them behind as we moved on into the upper layers, into the villa's perfectly restored rooms, a gentle breeze blowing through the windows moderating the heat brought by the summer sun.

Barrique room, the rocks on top of the planks are Ponca

Cages containing old vintages

We had a lovely lunch in the garden, slow cooked roast, polenta, frico (typical Friuli dish, Montasio cheese and potatoes cooked until it forms a lovely, slightly burnt crisp), cheese made fresh in front of us, cold cuts and risotto. Of course all paired with Tenuta Borgo Conventi wine.

I had the Ribolla and Sauvignon (my favourite). The Ribolla Gialla was a tank method sparkling, a much needed refreshment; the bouquet starts off with a lot of white flowers and pleasent notes of citrus and orange with a tiny hint of autolytic character, a persistant but not too fine perlage entices the palate, the acidity is fairly high and the finish is that of lemon and grapefruit. 

During lunch I went on with my favourite grape variety/wine right now: Sauvignon Blanc, a Collio 2019, winner of "Tre Bicchieri" Gambero Rosso. This wine is fermented in temperature controlled steel tanks to preserve primary aromas and flavours with a small portion of the grapes being cold macerated on the skins to add colour, texture and to further extract aromas. After the fermentation it rests on its fine lees during the winter up until bottling in spring.

The glass shows the typical Sauvignon Blanc character, the nose has pronounced asparagus, gooseberry, green bell pepper, peach, apple, blossom, citrus and notes of yeasts and whiffs of flint. The acidity is high, a medium + body and a long finish. No wonders it won the "Tre Bicchieri".

After lunch we had the chance to see the planetarium and the telescope which brought me back when I was a kid, left me wondering and pondering about the stars...

Great fun.

Thanks,

Dino