Giol Pinot Grigio

With a history spanning all the way back to 1427, this venerable old estate in San Polo di Piave is still at the forefront of quality wine production in the Piave region of north-east Italy. In fact, this is the oldest documented winery in Italy. It was in 1919 that the Giol family first became owners of the estate, which includes a castle, a winery and extensive landholdings comprising woodland and, of course, an expanse of vineyards. As a certified organic, ethical and environmentally friendly winery producing award-winning sparkling and still wines exclusively from grapes grown on their historic La Bicana, Il Bassonet, Le Gerette and Spiridiona estates, Giol seeks to combine the highest quality with the greatest respect for the environment. All 25 hectares of vineyards have been farmed using organic methods since 1986. Grapes are harvested in the coolest hours of the day in order to protect their natural aromas. Soils are alluvial and largely gravelly, with medium texture and good fertility. In summer the climate offers average daytime temperatures of 28-30 degrees while the presence of the hills helps to bring about a thermal temperature variation of up to 18 degrees in the evenings. Wines with natural acidity and freshness are the result. Indeed, Vittorio Carraro prides himself on producing fresh, vibrant and immediately enjoyable wines which are honest, estate grown, and certified organic made with great respect for the environment and the people who work the land. Giol do not use herbicides, but they enrich soil with organic matter, nitrogen and trace elements. They also use vegetable and mineral fertilisers to avoid groundwater and soil pollution. Manual harvest is carried out at optimum technological ripeness, crushing-destemming, gentle pressing, cold settling and the addition of cultured yeasts allied to controlled fermentation is followed by racking and a light clarification to stabilise the proteins and subsequent careful filtration. Only finings from non-animal derivatives are used, ensuring that all Giol wines are vegan and vegetarian friendly as well as being organic. A number of Giol wines also contain only a very low level of sulphur, ensuring that they possess a more authentic aroma, they are more pleasurable to taste and easier to digest. These wines are far less likely to cause an allergic or intolerance reactions.