Villa Job
About
The winery was established in 2012 by Alessandro Job and his partner Lavinia after some years of the couple working in other business fields in Milano; Alessandro inherited family land in Zugliano after his grandfather passed away. The farm is land Job remembers visiting frequently and enjoying as a child, but the fruit from the farm was always sold off. Turning this property into healthy vineyards with a cantina to make artisanal, natural wines of their own is a new step for the Job family. From the beginning, a commitment to biodiversity in the vineyards and on the property in general was important: it’s 20ha of land but even now only nine under vine; the farm is surrounded by forest, and the family keeps five active beehives as well to help encourage the robustness of the vines and surrounding environs.
Over the years, this young couple without formal background in viticulture or winemaking began to understand the possibilities of the land they’d set out to nurture, looking for what they call more ‘personal’ wines: there are five different kinds of terroir in just the six original hectares of vines Alessandro’s grandfather had planted, including sabbia (sand), limo (silt), argila (clay), arenarie (sandstone), and marne (marl). Taking inspiration from famous white winemakers in their surrounding region, Alessandro and Lavinia spent many vintages making micro-vinifications, testing out different maceration lengths, fermentation vessels, and small plots of individual varieties on these various terroirs. Now, Villa Job has found their way to the lineup we have here: a diverse range of skin-macerated white wines, all from varieties endemic to the region, rendered in an herbal, floral, perhaps less dense style than some of their more famous forebears in the region.
We’re very happy to present these delicious, personal wines from Villa Job in the Friuli-Grave; they’re a complex, hazy, enchanting version of the savory and sometimes intensely structured wines from Friuli that are often readily misunderstood, even in the natural wine world. Villa Job is a worthy and pleasurable new addition to the growing roster of producers emerging from this culturally complex corner of Italy.
Products
Pinot Grigio Ramato 'Piantagrane'
Organic. 100% Pinot Grigio. Drawn from the single-vineyard plot ‘Piantagrane,’ 18 year-old vines. Fermented on skins for 2-3 days in open-top, neutral barrels; élevage in a mix of concrete tanks, neutral barriques, and botti. Unfined, unfiltered, 30mg/l SO2 added before bottling. Vignaioli Alessandro and Lavinia gave this vineyard the name piantagrane, which means ‘troublemaker,’ as they had many friends and colleagues in the region tell them that Pinot Grigio was wrong for their soils, wrong for the region, wrong for Friuli in general—but they love the variety and believe it expresses well enough on their different microclimates that this is one of two separate macerated bottlings they do of the grape. Notes of orange peel, fresh green herbs, and tropical fruit, with a light and zesty palate.
Pinot Grigio Ramato 'Guastafeste'
Organic. 100% Pinot Grigio. Drawn from the single-vineyard plot ‘Guastafeste,’ 18 year-old vines. Fermented on skins for 15-20 days in open-top, neutral barrels; élevage in a mix of concrete tanks, neutral barriques, and botti for two years—a much longer maceration and aging process than their lighter iteration of Pinot Grigio called ‘Piantagrane.’ Unfined, unfiltered, 30mg/l SO2 added before bottling. ‘Guastafeste’ is harvested at the last moment possible, almost with fully red grapes, in order to obtain maximum concentration. In this way, the producers are able to extract intense botanical notes—they nickname the wine ‘a missed vermouth.’ The cuvée name, guastafeste, or ‘mood-breaker,’ comes from our the winemakers’ strong determination to demonstrate that this international grape in Friuli should have the same reputation and quality as the most famous indigenous grape varieties.
Sauvignon Blanc 'Sudigiri' Venezia Giulia
Organic. 100% Sauvignon Blanc. Drawn from a single vineyard of 15 year-old vines bearing the name ‘Sudigiri.’ Fermented on skins for 10-15 days in open-top, neutral large botti; élevage in a mix of concrete tanks, neutral barriques, and botti. Unfined, unfiltered, 30mg/l SO2 added before bottling. Job says they fell in love with this grape variety in their terroir because it expresses such unique aromas of citrus, herbs, and soil here, as opposed to intensely green or peppery flavors – agrumi ed erbe.
Friulano 'Untitled' Venezia Giulia
Organic. 100% Friulano. Drawn from the single-vineyard plot ‘Guastafeste,’ 18 year-old vines. Fermented on skins for 10-15 days in open-top, neutral large botti; élevage in a mix of concrete tanks, neutral barriques, and botti. Unfined, unfiltered, 30mg/l SO2 added before bottling. Because this grape variety legally can no longer be called Tokai Friulano as it once was, Job decided to call this cuvée name ‘Untitled.’ Marked notes of white pepper, sage and citrus while maintaining freshness and acidity on the palate.
Refosco 'Serious' Venezia Giulia
Organic. 100% Refosco. Drawn from the single-vineyard plot ‘Piantagrane,’ 15 year-old vines. Fermented on skins for 7-10 days in open-top, neutral barrels; élevage in a mix of concrete tanks, neutral barriques, and botti. Unfined, unfiltered, 30mg/l SO2 added before bottling. Vignaioli Alessandro and Lavinia say that Refosco is an intensely spicy variety; as such they’ve decided to render it with a similar method as they handle their white varieties—no leaf defoliation, topping up in barrels, shorter maceration for a red wine. They’re looking for a Refosco that can be drunk ‘at any time of day without taking itself too seriously;’ hence, the cuvée name.
