The history of the Gorizia Hills has been largely influenced by its close Slavic and Austro-Hungarian ties, and it was annexed to Italy only after the First World War. After Second World War, the majority of the region became part of Yugoslavia, and only a small strip of territory between the villages of San Floriano del Collio and Dolegna del Collio remained in Italy. The boundaries of the traditional wine region thus extended further eastward into what is now Slovenia. Even today, some Italian winemakers still produce Slovene wines under the Collio designation from vineyards in the Goriška brda region across the border. In the 1970s, the Collio Goriziano was one of the Italy's leading white wine producers and was pioneer in producing fresher, more vibrant white wines using winemaking methodology that focused on minimizing skin contact and oxidation.
Geography
The name Collio is taken from the Italian wordColli, which means 'hillsides' and describes the terrain of the Collio Goriziano region. The Slovene name Brda has the same meaning. The Gorizia Hills extend from the Judrio river in the west where it borders the Colli Orientali del Friuli DOC to the Slovene border on the east. The region continues into Slovenia, where it is entirely included in the Municipality of Brda, which extends from the Italian border to the Soča River. To the south is the Isonzo del Friuli DOC, also in the Gorizia province. Most of the region's vineyards are centered on the comune of Cormons. The soil of the region is composed ofcalcareousmarl and flyschsandstone.
Viticulture and winemaking
The Collio Goriziano is the fourth-largest DOC in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia in terms of areas planted. It is also the 4th leading producer in terms of volume, trailing the Friuli Grave, Isonzo and Colli Orientali del Friuli region in production. Over 85% of the Collio production is in white wine grape varieties. While still low in comparison to the rest of Italy, the yields in the Collio Goriziano are higher than the 3.5 tons an acre average of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia. In the Collio, the yields average around 4.4 tons/acre though some quality conscious producers have lower yields. Winemaker Mario Schiopetto was one of the first to incorporate German winemaking techniques like cold fermentation to white wine production in the Collio Goriziano. Today, winemaking on the region is very technologically advance with refrigerated fermentation tanks, pneumaticwine presses, and centrifugation bottling systems. The objective of most Gorizia Hills winemakers is to maximize the fresh fruit and pure varietal characteristic of the grape. To that extent, oak influence is not widely used in this region though some winemaking are experimenting with its use and different blends of grape varieties to produce more complex wine.
