Biography
When Livio Felluga created, in 1956, his original label, a map of the hills of his vineyards, the place where his wines were born, the legislation which established Italy’s system of wine appellations was yet to appear. Virtually unchanged from that date, in addition to being an excellent marketing instrument, the label also testifies to Felluga’s deep conviction that great wine can only come from a cru, a great vineyard. And, in fact, when the appellations began to appear, he had already gone beyond them: he fermented his grapes vineyard by vineyard and proudly stated their name on the labels. Where did this pioneering awareness come from? He responds with a quip: “the family has been working in wine for five generations, it has been our bread and butter”. His great-grandfather produced Refosco and Malvasia in Istria, as did his grandfather, and a part was used in the small family trattoria of Isola d’Istria. This territory, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was annexed by Italy after the First World War, but the family did not change its way of life for this reason. On the contrary, to expand it, it sent one of the sons, Giovanni, to sell the wine at Grado, a seaside resort much loved by the aristocracy of central Europe. Livio, Giovanni’s son, accordingly grew up on this lagoon, right next to the Collio and Colli Orientali del Friuli areas, and dreamed of making wine in a place with such an important potential. The outbreak of World War II prevented him from carrying out his plans: he was called back to arms in 1940. Three years in Libya and then prison at Cap Bon and three more years in Scotland. And, at his return, the frontier of his country had changed once again. But he, as soon as possible, return to his first love: in the early 1950’s he acquired a few acres of land at Rosazzo in the Colli Orientali appellation. “Difficult years”, he recounts. “The hillsides were totally abandoned. The first factories sprung up and the cultivators preferred the city and factory work. The landscape itself began to change. My challenge was to resist all of that and make the hillsides productive once again”. He chose Brazzano in the Collio appellation as the site for his cellar, a cellar which has grown as production has increased. He could enjoy his position as patriarch, his reputation as re-founder of the viticultural traditions of Friuli, but not even his advancing age has slowed him down. He was among the first to understand that these vineyards could not continue to produce every type of wine envisaged in the appellation rules: only the varieties which gave excellent results in their specific sites were to be cultivated. Fewer wines but with more personality. With the aid of his children, Maurizio, Andrea, Elda, and Filippo, despite 90 years of age, he is carrying out this program of high level vineyards at Venco, Ruttars, Rolàt in the Collio appellation and at Rosazzo in the Colli Orientali. He has already achieved two very satisfying results: Terre Alte, a blend of Tocai, Pinot Blanc, and Sauvignon, for over a decade among the top white wines of Friuli, and Sossò, which blends Merlot, Refosco, and Pignolo, first produced in 1989, a potent but supple red wine with aromas of berry fruit, plum jam, and spice.