The "Ronco Prepotto" winery has belonged to the Macorig family since 1901 and is located in an area that is particularly suited to viticulture: Prepotto in the province of Udine
You have to climb on foot or go up in a jeep in order to see the wineyards planted on the heights of Prepotto, south-east of Cividale del Friuli, in the eastern hills of Friuli close up. Amond the woos and meadows, along winding dirty roads you will come across terraces of the new and old plants. Vineyards have always grown here as the Macorig fanily since 1901.
Giuseppe Macorig, in fact, had a house and a small vineyard in Prepotto, which he passed to his son, Gino, then to Annibale father of Giampaolo, the current owner (although his father is a solid shoulder to lean on in all business decisions). Managing the estate really is passion for him together with a desire to see it grow too.
From the Macorig family, in the hills of Prepotto, with their beautifully aspected and resiliend land, it is impossible not to talk about fine wines. Attention to the vineyard, the grapes themselves, to the raising, the cellar and of course the wine.
So, the vineyards have all been rearranged, and a good 35% of them, completely renewed (almost all using the Guyot method with a plant density of 4500-5000 vines per hectar). Vine management has a low enviroment impact: no herbicides, or drying agents are used and chemical fertilizers are used in very small doses (we prefer to opt for organic ones with the distribution of the good old manure ...)<, treatment is only used for defense purposes if necessary.
The harvest, of course, is completely by hand using crates, and is carried out several times in order to pick the grapes at just the right level of ripeness. Part of all grape varieties is left to dry in the big, well ventilated barn, once part of the old farmhouse buildings where the grape clusters are hung, one by one, on hundreds of hooks palced in rows under the roof. A great sacrifice, which bot father and son, deem necessary. In the cellar, the use of wooden barrels is used in the most intelligent way possible depending on the grape variety in any given vantage.
Strategic choices have led to diversification of production, and subsequentelly of distribution, through the creation of two product lines: the exciting "Ronco di Prepotto" blends, and the pure, autochtonous "vineyards of the sacred Mountains" wines.
