The 120-year-old picolit presiding over Conte d’Attemis Maniago

On an estate that stretches back a near half-millennium, it seems appropriate that the grande dame of the vineyard is a 120-year-old picolit vine.

Used to make dessert wine, which was possibly enjoyed during Roman times and was once the toast of Europe’s 18th century courts, picolit is a native varietal of Friuli, located in far northeastern crevices of Italy. Its name is thought to derive from the vine’s characteristically petite, or piccoli, grape bunches. At Conte d’Attemis Maniago, a family legacy that dates back to 1585, the aged picolit vine presides atop a gently sloping hillside.

The joke within the vineyard is that stubborn old vines, like the picolit, are there to frustrate. Each harvest is expected to be their last. Then the next year surprises with new fruit.

The staying power of the picolit is all the more impressive considering the varietal’s genetic abnormality that keeps yields low.

Picolit’s quirk causes floral abortion, which in turn limits the number of berries that will grow.  

Flowering generally takes place six to 13 weeks after budbreak and is the pivot point in the growing season.

It happens when tiny caps of fused petals form that look like miniature versions of the grape bunches. When these caps fall, they expose the stigmas that can be fertilized by pollen to create the berries.

Flowering is based on the buds that form after winter pruning, which is conducted while the plant is dormant and sets the stage for the coming year’s expected crop.

As with most aspects related to winemaking, pruning is about striking balance. An over-pruned vine may become weak and bear too little fruit. Conversely, an under-pruned vine will go on to generate too many shoots and leaves, leading to more fruit than can gain sun exposure to fully ripen. This overabundance from one year could also lead to fewer shoots in coming seasons, lowering the yields of those harvests.

From the buds, leaves start to separate and embryonic tendrils sprout, followed by the flowering, which takes about 10 to 14 days. The success of pollination at this phase is another checkpoint to the size of the crop.

After flowering, comes veraison, when the berries start to soften and turn a reddish or yellow color. The ripening process then begins as sugar starts to build up.

From there, it’s a matter of time to determining full ripeness, when the grapes have achieved their balance of sugar and acidity prior to picking.

In the case of picolit, its stunted ability during this ripening process allows the fewer remaining grape bunches on the vine to concentrate and intensify in flavors.

Its production into a dessert wine is a way of taking what could be seen as a vineyard curse – some unreliability and unpredictability – and turning it into a blessing – a final product that requires richness and density.

Some basic laws of economics could also be said to be in play, as scarcity created by lower quantities typically demands higher prices.

The longevity of the Conte d’Attemis Maniago picolit is an estimated age. To know the true age of the vine would require cutting into the plant and counting the rings.

Its predominance started when the vine next to it died and it started growing into that space.

“The plant wasn’t born this big,” said Alberto d’Attemis, who leads the tour with his teenage son Fabio, on school break, serving as interpreter.  

In allowing the picolit to spread its branches and grow, Conte d’Attemis Maniago has allowed the plant to follow its natural instincts.

The vine’s intuitive form of reproduction is to generate some fruit but to prioritize creating new shoots and extending branches that could span as much as an acre (half hectare). As the vine spreads above ground, new roots form where the branches touch the soil.

The French call this system provignage, and it’s how the vineyards of ancient civilizations sprawled. The Romans even planted elms within the vineyards to assist and encourage the vine’s instincts to climb trees with its tendrils. When it came time to harvest, freelance labor was employed, as the picking was considered too dangerous to risk slaves.

Modern viticulturalists are more interested in controlling the reproductive process and leaving less to chance.

While vines can reproduce from their seeds, the offspring aren’t guaranteed to resemble the qualities of the parents.

Recent research suggests many grape berries may have evolved to be red as a way of enticing birds, which seem to prefer the hue over potential blue, yellow, green, or black delicacies.

The rest of the grape’s anatomy, including palatable, sugary pulp and heavily coated seeds that can withstand stomach acids and intestinal enzymes through digestion, is designed to make the fruit as appetizing as it is attractive. This could be summed up as the classic method for far-ranging dispersal by taking advantage of the tracts left by roaming animals.    

Vineyards, of course, are kept to much tighter quarters, and viticulturalists prefer consistency over the chances of nature. Vines can be reproduced asexually by taking cuttings that replicate the qualities of the mother vine.

A fresh cutting can either be planted as a new vine, which will focus the first two or three years of its life on building its root system and trunk, or grafted onto existing rootstock.

The rootstock is the system of roots beneath the soil that carries nutrients and water to the plant. It also affects vine vigor, fruitfulness, and resistance to disease and drought.

Old vines are generally thought of as survivors and better able to withstand less-than-perfect conditions. This is because their root systems have dug deeper into the earth in search of nutrients and water sources that help stabilize them.

Rootstocks are also independent of the varietal. This means that a rootstock that is found to suit the soil can stay planted and the varietal that grows above ground can change.

This discovery ended up being the savior to the 19th century phylloxera outbreak when the Vitis vinifera species of Europe, representing most varietals we recognize to make wine and 90 percent of all cultivated grapes, was grafted onto the phylloxera-resistant rootstock of Northern American vines.

The old-vine picolit of Conte d’Attemis Maniago provides cutting for new vines, ensuring its imprint on the vineyard beyond where it stands. Conte d’Attemis Maniago maintains 110 hectares of vineyard in Buttrio, on the outskirts of the Friuli Colli Orientali. The original land plat was gifted as part of a dowry.

The succession of Conte d’Attemis Maniago to last through five-plus centuries is notable in a region whose chapters in history have been marked by different periods of conquering influences.  

Before stepping to the head of the family operation, Alberto had felt the call of the sea and wanted to be an officer of the navy. However, when Alberto’s own father chose a different pursuit, he realized where his future lay.

“One generation can skip,” he said with a smile, noting that the d’Attemis line has lost count on just how many hands have passed down the stewardship.

One of the goals in the coming decades is to return production to entirely indigenous varietals.

“We really believe in typical varietals,” said Alberto. Care and maintenance of the ancient picolit is one step in the right direction.