“We started from nothing in 1984,” Silvana Forte tells me, “Everyone thought we were crazy.” She and her husband, Flavio Basilicata, were way outside the norms of the times when they decided to farm organically and make “natural” wines (only native yeasts, leaving wine “on the lees”, little or no filtration and old wood containers). Their minimal intervention in the cellar allows the “due terre (marna and clay known locally as flysch or ponca) to manifest as minerality in all their wine.
Their two flagship wines are each made from an uvaggio of two native grapes. The white, Sacrisassi Bianco Colli Orientali di Friuli DOC, combines Friuliano (70%) and Ribolla Gialla (30%) is fresh and crisp but with enough structure to age.
To achieve that, Flavio ferments only in stainless steel but follows “old style” winemaking traditions and leaves the wine on the skins for 10-15 in old wood barrels days.
The red, Sacrisassi Rosso Colli Orientali di Friuli DOC, fermented in cement and aged in old barriques, blends (50/50) the elegance and spice of Schioppettino with the rich, complexity of Refosco.
Silvana and Flavio’s daughter, Cora, who helps manage the winery, explains that Flavio uses old, French barrels and barriques to keep the wine from being overwhelmed by the aromas and flavor of new wood. He also leaves the wine “on the lees” without ever moving it from barrel to barrel, which minimizes the chance for oxidization and means that he only needs to add tiny amounts of sulfites. He only “racks” the wine and adds sulfites when bottling.
Le Due Terre has no website.
The easiest way to buy their wines in the US is through:
http://www.naturalwineco.com/wordpress/le-due-terre/
Le Due Terre “Sacrisassi” Rosso Colli Orientali del Friuli DOC about $35
Le Due Terre “Sacrisassi” Bianco Colli Orientali del Friuli DOC about $35
