Mario Schiopetto, son of Angela and Giorgio, was born in 1930 and grew up in the Fireman’s Hostelry which belonged to the family, experiencing in first person the life of a fireman and then that of a lorry driver. For years he accompanied and helped his father to select the wines for the Hostelry, eventually running it himself after the demise of his parents.
Guided only by his personal taste and his love for wine, in 1963 Mario started to dedicate his time to the production and in 1965 brought out his first “Tocai”. Thus giving birth to the era of modern white wine in Friuli and transforming the conception of Italian white wine.
Mario Schiopetto, the master of white wine amongst the great producers of Italian wines.
Mario soon became part of a group of producers who worked from the end of the 1960s and through the 1970s to improve and modernize the methods of Italian wine production. Mario travelled across Europe and USA with Luigi Veronelli to discover other wines and wine makers; with Luigi Soini he had many adventures and engaged in important discussions, he maintained a long collaboration with Professor Spath in Germany seeking new methods of production and vinification. In the 1980s Mario is one of the elite of Italian wine makers and he becomes teacher and adviser for many young wine makers, opening the doors of his cellars to them.
Mario was a great winemaker, dedicated to the work in the vineyard and the cellar, motivated by his passion for the plants and the wine. The vineyards were where Mario could use his skill and expertise for things made with great care, aiming always for quality; from the first vineyard planted with high density, to the creation of “mixed” vineyards, planting different varietals together in order to give birth to the blend right from the start in the vineyard. Even in the moment that he realized that the bunches of grapes needed to be picked at perfect maturation, he didn’t hesitate to anticipate the grape harvest, defying tradition.
Mario always travelled, even before he started to work in wine, as a lorry driver. Just like his father he travelled across Europe looking for new ideas in order to improve both his work and himself. He collaborated for a long period with Muller Spath, at the time director of a large industry specializing in machinery for vinification and also manager of an experimental wine cellar in Bad Kreuznach. In Germany Mario bought pine poles for the vineyard and he discovered the use of technology during the vinification process. In France he bought young new plants and he gathered ideas and suggestions as how to make his wines even more elegant. Thus the “Schiopetto Style” was born.
Mario was an innovator, desiring to experiment and to improve himself, his wine and his business. The merit goes to Mario for the creation of the first Tocai and of the modern white wine from Friuli, but also for the introduction of new technology and revolutionary innovations fundamental to the work in the fields and the cellars, and nowadays peremptory for the production of high quality wines. Furthermore, Mario demonstrated that he was also an innovator in the field of promotion, distribution and commercialization of his wines working from the beginning of the 1960s on demand and personally contacting potential buyers.
Schiopetto