Dario Prinčič

This lovely family winery, located in Oslavia, on the border between Italy and Slovenia, was one of the initiators of orange wines in Italy. Dario has been farming biodynamically since 1988, in 1993 he founded his own winery and bottled his first wines. For quite a few years his wines did not sell, but he produced as he wanted and liked, until finally interest grew. Today it is one of the most famous names in the world of natural wines and is also an important member of the “Vini Veri” association.

At the end of the 1980s, Dario and a few neighboring winemakers started natural wine production and refused to treat the vines with chemicals. In Italy, they established “wines in contact with the skin”, as many “orange wines” call them, where they hardly had any precedent. Although they were difficult to sell in the beginning, they slowly gained a great reputation in the region. These are mostly sauvignon blanc, pinot gris, tocai friulano (jacot) and white chardonnay grape varieties that undergo a maceration process, without filtration or crushing.

The soil is quite deep below the vineyards and is mainly based on clay and sandstone. The grapes are harvested by hand and removed in the cellar. For the maceration period, they are placed in open wooden tubs without temperature control. After pressing, they are transferred to old wooden barrels and barriques. Only a small amount of sulfites are added before bottling.