The wine world loves speed. harvest, ageing, bottling, selling. In the white wine sector in particular, speed to market is often what counts. Gianfranco Gallo has been able to escape this logic from an early stage. Since 1992, no white wine from Vie di Romans has left the estate earlier than 18 months after the harvest. While others have long since presented the next vintages, time remains the most important part of the ageing process at Mariano del Friuli.
What sounds like patience is actually a precise stylistic decision. After all, the wines from Vie di Romans are not intended to shine in their primary fruit, but to possess the calm, depth and balance for which the estate has been revered for decades. The 2024s that have now arrived show precisely this signature: no loud effects, no fashionable flavours, but clarity, tension and remarkable inner density.
The terroir provides the basis for this. Vie di Romans is located in the Friulian plain, just a few metres above sea level. However, the alluvial soils of the Isonzo, interspersed with limestone, iron and clay, combined with a climate in which the warmth of the Adriatic meets the freshness of the Julian Alps, are decisive. Gianfranco Gallo began to uncompromisingly develop this potential back in the late 1970s: higher planting densities, lower yields, consistent vineyard work and finally the introduction of late release. An approach against the fast market and in favour of an unmistakable style.
The new 2024s show impressively how differentiated Friul can be. Two Sauvignons with clearly distinguishable vineyard profiles, Chardonnays between tension and creaminess, a Pinot Grigio far from triviality, plus Friulano, Malvasia Istriana and the aromatically complex "Flors di Uis". Finally, "Dut' un" is the personal cuvée that perhaps summarises Gallo's philosophy most directly: Origin, time and precision in one wine.
Vie di Romans thus remains a counter-design to the fast pace of the modern white wine market. A year later than many others. And often surprisingly much further.
Discover now: Vie di Romans stands for white wines with origin, depth and that supreme calm that only comes from time, precision and experience. SUPERIORE.DE