San Simone

Friulian Wines since 1915

The Success of Our Wines is The Result of Our Respect for Tradition

“Wine making is an art in itself but not just any kind of art. It is an art which does not require only know-how but also loads of passion, love, sacrifice, patience, sensitivity and fantasy. It is essential to have a solid tradition and strong enological culture. This art cannot be merely learned, it is something innate. It is an emotion, and like everything that springs from the heart, it becomes a light for the mind, a scent and an enthusiasm for the life through the transformation of the grapes into wine.” Chiara, Anna e Antonio

Values and Family

The story of San Simone is linked to the territory. At Rondover, between Prata and Porcia, in the most western part of Doc Friuli Grave and central part of DOC Prosecco, the company San Simone is the result of winemaking tradition and culture of our family, which is engaged in the business of wine grower for four generations.

San Simone Church

We chose the name San Simone for our wines and wine cellar in the memory of our origins. The very first and historic headquarter was in fact situated in via San Simone, Prata, opposite the fourteenth century church devoted to San Simone, where our great-grandfather decided to begin his activity which is now been converted into a family residence.

Many Changes have Taken Place Over Time 

But one thing which has not changed is our value system. Values: responsibility towards the reality in which we work, passion for work and transparency in our working system. These are the valueswhich are timeless.

Yesterday

San Simone was born in Friuli by a family that has always believed in the extraordinary oenological potential of its land and has nearly a hundred years of experience in wine-making. Four generations: a story full of dynamic and resolute characters. These were the abilities of our great-grandfather and founder Gino Brisotto, who in the beginning of the last century with our great grandmother Olga, gave the first decisive impulse to the activity later followed by our grandparents, Antonio and Angela with perseverance and confidence to strengthened it.

Which was later handed over to our parents, Gino and Liviana, convinced that to grow and improve we must be always open to change, which gave birth to a new production project: San Simone. An adventure that started from the historical Brisotto cellars at Prata to Porcia in the new cellar where the company accelerated its pace on the road to quality. A project that aims to handle with care even a minimum detail, from the vineyard to the bottle.

Today

Since then, the sign of smooth generational change, the company has changed hands from father to son, undergoing a continuous and constant evolution, both from technological and commercial point of view. Today San Simone is been directed by Chiara, Anna and Antonio, the fourth generation. Together, with pride and tenacity, we are following exemplary footsteps of our parents, Gino and Liviana who have transmitted this strong passion to us.

The Cellar

Our cellar is a perfect meeting point between tradition and technology, on one hand it reflects the architectural standards of the local rural area, completely respecting the environment, and on the other, its premises represents functionality and rationality in the internal layout of the rooms where the different phases of wine processing takes place. Which consists of the wine-making area, followed by the storage room, the bottling room, the warehouse for the finished products, the laboratory, the tasting room and the basement for aging wines in the French oak barrels.

The Vineyards

The vineyards are located in the Friuli Grave DOC and Prosecco DOC area in the municipalities of Porcia, Pasiano and Azzano Decimo.

We invest significant resources in the vineyards, which make us the promoters in the modern viticulture, targeted on low yield of grapes per hectare, thanks to modern vine training system (Guyot and cordon-spur), the high density planting and low bud density per each vine stump.

In addition, rationalizing phytosanitary management, eliminating nitrogenous fertilizers and studying the best environmental conditions for vine cultivation are the main factors that have contributed in producing top quality grapes for each variety that our company grows.

During the entire annual cycle of the vine, qualified agronomists continuously check the vineyards in order to plan eco-compatible operations to achieve healthy and quality grapes.

In addition to international vine varieties grown by our company, which we prefer to call "traditional" as cultivated by almost two hundred years in Friuli and can be found in ampelographic history of our region, such as Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet franc and Sauvignon, we grow indigenous vine varieties such as Friulano, Refosco d.p.r. and Glera.

Green Project

Project Green is a set of actions, behaviours and procedures that we put forward to contribute to the environmental sustainability of our business, respecting the existing territorial balance. It is only a segment of a broader concept - "Social liability" that has always guided our family in shaping their line of work: with maximum respect for the communities in which our company operates, suppliers, consumers, customers, land, local cultural heritage.

Reduction of solid wastes: by using lightweight bottles; biological treatment plant for waste waters through Mbr technique in order to decrease the accumulation of sludge; tangential filter instead of fossil flour filter.

Energy saving: thermal insulation is done for wine vats, to protect them from sunlight.

Water saving: by limiting the use of water only in necessary operations; our vineyards do not require irrigation, even in the driest of years.

Reduction of emission and pollution, of air and of water: by photovoltaic panels installed on the cellar roof, timely maintenance of the machines and waste-water treatment plant.

Treatments reducing: thanks to Stevenson screens (instrument shelter); we have also started an experiment in one of our vineyards, in which we have planted only selected disease-resistant varieties (NO OGM), where we don’t utilize any kind of treatment.

Elimination of chemical weed: by implementing only mechanical processing in the rows; we use only organic fertilizers with agronomic technique of green manure, in alternative rows and traditional grassing.

Green Project is one of our winery initiative, but it would be fantastic to have this kind of project on the territory not as a mere marketing tool, but as a collective as well as personal gratification.

We must all be environmental conscious simply to help stem the damage done to the ecosystem and it is clear that it has to be addressed on territorial level.

To reduce environmental impact, one cannot limit itself only to its personal space.

Concept