Nonino Risit d’Aur Prize Gold Vine Shoot 2019
Damijan Podversic and Ribolla Gialla
MOTIVATION
To Damijan Podversic for having given passionate impulse to the cultivation of Ribolla Gialla, an ancient autochthonous vine variety of Friuli Venezia Giulia, and started the process for the recovery of lands suitable for viticulture and abandoned since 1940 on Mount Calvario in the province of Gorizia. His work symbolically represents an extraordinary research opportunity and one of the most genuine expressions of the regional wine world.
The awarding of the prize wants to be also a passionate appeal to the winemakers of the Region so that they find an agreement on the production specifications to obtain as soon as possible the D.O.C. for Ribolla Gialla which guarantees its production exclusively for the territory of Friuli Venezia Giulia.
The prize is delivered by Giannola Nonino
BIOGRAPHY
Damijan Podversic, a Slovenian minority Friulian, was born in Gorizia in 1967.
He has dreamt of being a winemaker since he was 12 years old and he feels very lucky to be able to do the work he wanted to do as a child.
He approached the world of wine thanks to his father, Francesco, Tavern-keeper in Gorizia, who over the years had bought two plots of land on Mount Calvario to produce wine for his own Tavern. Damijan followed professional studies at ERSA (Regional Agency for the rural development of Friuli Venezia Giulia) and started to work with his father but when he suggested him to try to produce ‘Great Wines’ he found no support and so he decided to follow his own path. He didn’t have his own lands and neither much money, so he started by buying small abandoned plots of land on Mount Calvario.
He has three great masters: Josko Gravner, Nicola Manferrari and Mario Schiopetto who, over the time, have passed on to him a lot of their knowledge about wine.
He considers himself a very lucky man having married Elena a woman who married him and also his dream. They have three children, Jasmine, Tamara and Jakob.
His goal is to make ‘Great Wines’ that feed the soul.
Ribolla Gialla is an ancient autochthonous vine variety of Friuli Venezia Giulia with white grapes.
