L’Altro Pinot Grigio – Piera 1899’s pure interpretation of Friuli Grave

last updated 29 May 2023

Piera 1899 is a project born at the crossroads of past and future; a tribute to a century of winemaking craftsmanship as well as a desire to create wines that express the modern elegance and sophisticated simplicity of its founder, Piera Martellozzo.

The project’s origin dates back, as its name indicates, to 1899, when Giovanni Martellozzo founded the family’s estate in Padua. His son Mario would expand the company’s production to vineyards in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto and Trentino before passing it on to his daughter Piera Martellozzo, marking the beginning of a new exciting chapter in the family’s story: Piera 1899. This name reflects the very essence of what the project stands for: respect for tradition, personality and identity.

With Friuli Grave as its terroir of choice, Piera 1899 has its headquarters and production facilities in San Quirino (Pordenone), in the heart of Magredi. A place of incredible beauty, and viticultural potential in which biodiversity and geology play defining roles, it provides the backdrop for Piera Martellozzo’s effort to reinterpret more than a century of knowledge and experience in her own, modern way.

Terre Magre – Friuli Grave ‘in purezza’

The finest expression of the terroirs of Friuli Grave, on the one hand, and of the ethos of Piera 1899 is best materialised in the Terre Magre range, a collection of single-varietal wines, of incredible fruit purity, vibrant freshness and gastronomic appeal.

They also convey the dual vocation of Friuli Grave, thanks to the excellence of its terroirs, as a region suited both for its indigenous and for international varieties. Growing conditions allow each grape to reveal itself in a clear, characterful way, in wines marked by the textural appeal of the Grave plain.

The local soils, with their trademark pebbles over free-draining sedimentary strata, promote slow and balanced ripening, with gradual accumulation of sugars and flavour compounds. The stony top layer reflects sunlight during the day while keeping the soil cool at night – the resulting diurnal temperature amplitude being crucial to that perfectly balanced maturation of grapes which yield wines of outstanding aromatic complexity and textural character.

A new addition to Terre Magre

With the 2022 vintage, the Terre Magre collection gains a new, characterful member: L’Atro Pinot Grigio. The skin-fermented iteration of the famous grape, very distinct from the award-winning Terre Magre Pinot Grigio Friuli DOC in structure and intensity, adds a sense of intrigue and exciting ‘otherness’ to the collection.

As with all other Terre Magre wines, the ultimate goal of L’Altro is to be a respectful vehicle of variety and terroir expression – but this faithful approach is taken along a different path, ever more linked to the tradition and land of Friuli. ‘This ‘’other’’ wine was born in a different way: the winemaking process included maceration [alcoholic fermentation in contact with the skins, as in red wine production], which allows the extraction of all those natural elements that are typical of the Grave and that were embedded in the skins’, explains Gianpietro Poveglian, enologist at Piera 1899.

Extended contact with the skins – along with spontaneous fermentation relying on natural yeasts only – is precisely what makes L’Altro a wine that further embodies the terroir it hails from. It reveals, in its aromatic depth and complexity, a wider spectrum of the flavours that evoke the territory of Friuli Grave and its incredible biodiversity. In the vineyard, yields were kept extremely low which is reflected in the limited number of bottles produced as well as in the aromatic intensity and phenolic richness of the wine. Such fleshy intensity will also support an interesting development in bottle, proving, once again, the capacity of Friuli Grave to produce complex and age-worthy wines.

A golden wine that perfectly reveals the jewelled treasures of its terroir.

Three Terre Magre wines to discover the universe of Piera 1899:

Tasted and scored by the Decanter team.

Terre Magre Ribolla Gialla 2022

90 points

Strong yet subtle mineral backbone driving an elegant and transparent palate, with a gentle saline appeal. Fine acid line, supporting pear, yellow apple and quince flavours. A subtle touch of preserved lemon adds zesty drive and salinity. Enjoy with seafood, spring salads or creamy pastas.

Terre Magre L’Altro Pinot Grigio 2022

88 points

With its inviting orange skin hue, this is an appealing and surprising Pinot Grigio. The buoyant aromatic profile has notes of clementine peel, rose water, and asian pear, while the palate has a crunchy orchard fruit freshness. Subtle spicy notes on the finish. It will be interesting to see how this wine evolves in bottle in the next decade.

Terre Magre Pinot Nero 2022

89 points

A pleasantly lifted and approachable Pinot Nero, perfect for summer drinking. Luscious red fruit (ripe raspberries, wild strawberries, poached cherries) flesh the soft and round palate. Very fine, gentle tannins and subtle acidity giving it a crunchy lift. Enjoy a bit chilled.