The Princic winery is located in the village of Oslavia, just north of the town of Gorizia, and a few steps from the border with Slovenia. From our house you can see Gorizia (Italy) and Nova Gorica (Slovenia), behind the towns you can see also the mount Sabotino, where there were battles in the First World War. Behind the house there is a monument with 60.000 soldiers buried. Dario decided to start elaborating wine with the grapes he was cultivating since 1988 (at that time, as now, he was working in the vineyards in a natural way: he was not using any chemicals, only natural fertilizers, as cow and horse manure, and copper and sulfur for the spray treatments) instead of selling them to local wineries. The year was 1993. But after a few years doing wine in, let’s say, the regular way, he decided to experiment with must maceration in contact with the skins with part of the wines. The experiment was a success and from 1999 he started doing it with all his production Now the winery is over 10 hectares densely planted (about 7.000 vines per ha), with almost all the vineyards exposed to the southeast. Because it’s very steep and the soil is composed of clay and sandstone, we have to do everything by hand. The harvest usually lasts from mid-September to mid-October, but we pick the grapes when completely mature. During the summer we trim the vines to produce less bunches, generally five or six per plant, so the juice is more concentrated. Once the grapes are in the cellar are de-stemmed and placed in open oak vats for the maceration with no temperature control, no added yeasts and no use of sulfur. The duration of the maceration depends on the variety of the grape, it goes from the 8 days for Pinot Grigio till the 45 days for Cabernet Sauvignon. Grape skins must be always covered with wine: that’s why during all the fermentation the cap is pushed down manually 3-4 times a day. The pressing is done softly using a pneumatic press, then the must passes in old wooden barrels and barriques that do not release more flavors. Before the wines are bottled, stay for 6 months in stainless steel tanks for natural fining. During the bottling there is a small addition of sulfur (15 – 20 mg/l). The wines are bottled unfiltered and often show a brilliant orange color in the glass. Optimal tasting température for all of the wines is in between 15°C and 16°C Density of plantation is about 7000 vines per hectar.