Until a few decades ago, anyone setting foot in Friuli had to get a rather curious idea of its inhabitants. If he asked a Friulian how he was doing, the answer, though in his heart bursting with joy, was generally "Avonde ben," which in our language means "quite well."
What has changed since then? Nothing, we are still like that, used to spending happiness a little at a time, because it is a precious commodity to take great care of, which we are a tad afraid of losing along the way.
You may have already heard that Friuli has been and is a crossroads of peoples, and that its inhabitants have endured invasions, subjugations, and dominations. Well, we are not the only ones who have faced complicated periods, but perhaps, compared to others, we have maintained a certain distrust of the outsider.
However, they also say that once you win our trust, no one will take it away from you. In short, we value beautiful people with whom we can share good times.
The fact that we are geographically at the center of a bustle of peoples has helped bring together the histories, knowledge and traditions of cultures as diverse as Neo-Latin, Slavic and Germanic, which are also present today in the way we make our wines. It fills us with joy to think that one of our bottles, where there is so much of our soul, could be uncorked by a person on the other side of the globe.
Work for us is an absolute value, but we often take it with us even where we shouldn't. At the dinner table, for example. For us, home, work and family is one. We like to talk little or, as we like to say, just enough, and we laugh more in the company of a guest than among family members.
We are simple people, and in our hearts we smile at the thought that we are part of a great beauty that belongs to everyone, and that there is a little piece of nature, our hills, that we can take care of.
We Ermacora have always lived in the hills. To those who ask "Why in the hills?" we respond with an invitation to visit with us the forests, roads and vineyards that follow the slopes around us.
Farming in the hills in some ways is more challenging than doing it in the country. But it gives us the opportunity to employ our millennial instinct to endure, rebuild and continually improve what we do. Here, the concept of terroir fits like a glove; the idea that land, fruit and the work of people are one is perhaps the thought that best expresses the Little Country called Friuli.
We often talk about life and work over tai, aka glass of wine, which is a pleasant ritual for us. The word comes from the ancient custom of "cutting" low-grade wines with fuller-bodied ones. Although today the tai is many times substituted for the more common aperitif and the wine served is of a higher level, it continues to be a way to spend time in company.
We pride ourselves on a culture that is more about doing than saying, although we happen to take it for granted. We love our little planet, and when we are out of the region or abroad, it can happen that we get a maggot's head to tell about our history, our culture, and our people.
