Blog: Silvio Jermann · Friaul

Silvio Jermann is a distinct special case in Friuli... and unfortunately he seems to know this all too well! The son of an old family of winegrowers of Austro-Hungarian origin, he had once emigrated to Toronto, Canada, in a dispute with his family, but soon returned to his native Friuli and, with radical and modern methods, brought his parents' winery to the top of regional viticulture in just a few years. Not a few of those who once admired his success, however, increasingly get a stomach ache when you hear the name Jermann.

It is not even the fact that Jermann deliberately renounces DOC designations for his wines and markets the entire production as table wine that is chalked up against him, nor - again unusually for the single-varietal white wine Friuli - the large proportion of blended wines in his program, nor their really fancy names like 'Where the dreams have no end...' or 'Vintage Tunina'.

It is probably more the reputation of increasingly taking off that follows Jermann, and which has also cost him sympathy in the Italian wine scene. And yet, given the absolute, inimitable quality of his wines, he really wouldn't need to. - Gerardo [TS01/23]