San Simone

Origins and the First World War

San Simone traces its foundation to 1915, when Gino and Olga Brisotto began selling wine made from their own grapes. Contemporary documentation recorded Gino alone, although Olga shared in establishing the enterprise and women continued to hold prominent roles in the family business.

The foundation coincided with a difficult moment for Friulian viticulture. Vineyards had only recently been restored after powdery mildew and phylloxera when Italy entered the First World War against Austria-Hungary. The family’s land and vineyards were again exposed to destruction.

The original premises stood in Via San Simone in Prata, opposite a fourteenth-century church dedicated to San Simone. The winery and its wines later took their name from this street and church. The historic premises became the family residence.

Survival, reconstruction and the second generation

The business, originally known as Cantine Brisotto or Brisotto Gino, survived both World Wars despite the destruction or abandonment of many vineyards and the difficulty of maintaining continuous production. In 1945, the end of the Second World War left the operation in need of reconstruction.

By 1950 it retained the form of a typical local agricultural enterprise. Grapes from the family vineyards were vinified in a small cellar adjoining the main house. Gino managed the property with sharecroppers and transported wooden barrels by horse-drawn cart to sell wine to nearby inns. In the poverty of the period, wine was also regarded as nourishment and a source of energy for strenuous work.

The sustained recovery came after the Second World War. Gino’s son Antonio and Antonio’s wife, Angela Luigia, expanded the wine trade and added various liqueurs to the business. After Antonio’s premature death, Angela Luigia kept the company operating until their son Gino—named after his grandfather—completed his oenology studies at the school in Conegliano and reached the legal age of majority, then 21.

Gino and Liviana: bottling, sparkling wine and a new winery

Gino Brisotto assumed control in 1962 after graduating in oenology at Conegliano. He combined an interest in innovation with the conviction that good work should benefit both its practitioners and the surrounding territory. Liviana, whom he married in 1965, became his partner in both family life and the business.

In 1969 Gino was among the founders of the Consorzio di tutela DOC Friuli Grave. Estate bottling under the company name followed, giving the wines an identifiable name and label and allowing sales to expand beyond nearby towns into other regions and the national market. He also began early experiments with sparkling Prosecco Brut.

In 1984 San Simone began working with selected growers in the Colli Trevigiani municipalities to produce Prosecco alongside its Friuli Grave DOC wines. Its first participation in Vinitaly came in 1986 and marked the opening of international markets.

The first bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon Nexus, from the 1986 vintage, was presented in 1989. That year Gino and Liviana also initiated the project for a new headquarters. Operations moved from the historic Brisotto cellars in Prata to Porcia in 1994, accompanied by major investment in vineyard and cellar plant and equipment. The new winery was conceived as a functional production complex that retained the forms of local rural architecture and integrated with the surrounding landscape.

Expansion, quality systems and the fourth generation

Vineyards at Azzano Decimo were acquired in 1998. In 1999 San Simone established its quality policy and became the first company in the region to receive UNI EN ISO 9001/2000 quality certification. A new bottling line followed in 2000.

At the turn of the millennium, Chiara, Anna and Antonio Brisotto—the fourth generation—joined the company and subsequently became its owners and managers. Their programme joined close control of the entire chain, from vineyard to bottle, with product authenticity, ecological sustainability, development of the grapes’ natural potential and the use of technology in the service of vines, wine and tradition.

The first Sugano from the 2000 vintage was released in 2002, followed in 2004 by the first Evante Merlot from the 2002 vintage. In 2008 the San Simone Style project introduced necklaces and bracelets made by recycling corks, together with “drink responsibly” T-shirts.

Progetto Verde, new vineyards and sparkling-wine development

In 2009 Antonio Brisotto became a founding member of the Consorzio Prosecco DOC, while the family created Progetto Verde as the framework for its environmental practices. In 2010 the first Perlae Naonis Prosecco DOC Brut Millesimato, from the 2009 vintage, appeared. The same year Anna Brisotto became president of the Consorzio DOC Friuli Grave—the first woman to hold the office.

Further vineyards at Azzano Decimo were acquired in 2011. A photovoltaic installation was also completed at Porcia to generate cleaner energy and reduce carbon-dioxide emissions. In 2012 San Simone launched the Limited Edition Perlae Naonis Millesimato Prosecco DOC range and introduced screw closures for the Rondover line.

The centenary was celebrated in 2015 with the first bottle of Metodo Classico Zero Dosage, made from the 2011 vintage. In 2016 the first Case Sugan Pinot Grigio Ramato was produced, and San Simone became one of the early Friulian wineries—and one of relatively few in Italy at the time—to plant disease-resistant grape varieties. The Prestige labels were redesigned in 2018.

PIWI varieties and the 110th anniversary

Selected vineyards and the winery received BIOS certification under the Organic Production Method in 2020. In 2023 San Simone presented SI VERMUT, described as its first vermouth based on the PIWI variety Fleurtai. For the company’s 110th anniversary in 2025, it released the first PuraMente, from the 2024 vintage: an unfiltered wine made from PIWI varieties without added sulfites.

The fourth generation continues to direct the family company. Gaia and Sofia, representing the family’s future, have already begun participating in the vineyards.

San Simone is based at Rondover, between Prata and Porcia in the Province of Pordenone, in the westernmost part of Friuli Grave DOC and near the centre of Prosecco DOC production. Its 65 ha of vineyards extend through Porcia, Azzano Decimo and Pasiano di Pordenone.

Friuli Grave

The “grave” landscape lies between the provinces of Pordenone and Udine around the Tagliamento and was formed by the great alluvial fans of the Meduna, Cellina and Tagliamento rivers. Soils are coarser in the northern part and become finer toward the coast. The mountains protect the area from cold northern winds, while the Adriatic Sea moderates the climate.

Prosecco DOC

The Prosecco DOC zone spans Friuli-Venezia Giulia and five Veneto provinces. Its predominantly alluvial soils have a silty-clay texture, minerals and rock fragments derived from Dolomite erosion and river deposits, supporting effective drainage.

Asolo Prosecco DOCG

The Asolo-Prosecco zone occupies the Montello and Asolo hills in the Province of Treviso at the foot of the Dolomites. Sedimentary formations alternate marl-clay and marl-sandy layers. The medium-deep soils retain water and contain abundant minerals. The climate combines mild springs, summers that are not excessively hot and warm, dry autumns, with breezes and pronounced day-night temperature shifts.

Estate variation

The estate’s vineyard areas differ markedly in soil structure and vine behaviour. Porcia has loose, medium-depth soils containing clay, limestone, sand and silt. Castello della Mantova at Azzano Decimo has loose, medium-depth, well-drained calcareous-clay soils. Pasiano di Pordenone contains sandy, calcareous and clayey elements with a good mineral presence. These variations can produce differing grape characteristics even within a single plot.

San Simone pursues low yields through Guyot and spur-cordon training, high planting density and a low number of buds per vine. Vineyard management is adjusted to individual sites rather than treating the estate as uniform: vine growth, productive cycles, annual conditions and climatic variables are continuously monitored so that viticultural and cellar decisions can respond to differences between zones and even within a plot. Earlier precision work included infrared-sensor monitoring.

Qualified agronomists monitor the vineyards throughout the annual cycle and plan environmentally compatible interventions. Canopy and vineyard work aim to keep bunches healthy and well ventilated. Rainfall, temperature and humidity are monitored, and pest treatment is used only when necessary, with preference given to lower-risk, low-impact options. Pheromone-based mating disruption provides biological control of harmful insects.

Herbicides and chemical fertilizers are avoided. Work between the rows is mechanical; fertility is supported with organic fertilizers, green manure in alternating rows and permanent or traditional grass cover. The grassed inter-rows sustain beneficial insects and microfauna and provide habitat for hares and squirrels. Hedges and 3,000 m² of woodland have been planted to reconstruct the region’s traditional tree-lined landscape and strengthen biodiversity.

The vineyards do not require irrigation, even in the driest years. Biomass produced primarily by pruning is partly directed to further processing. Disease-resistant PIWI varieties are under cultivation and experimentation, and additional vineyards are being converted to organic certification. In 2020, selected vineyards and the winery were certified under the Organic Production Method by BIOS.

The Porcia winery combines the forms of local rural architecture with a functional, rational internal plan. Dedicated areas include the vinification section, wine storage, bottling room, finished-product warehouse, laboratory and tasting room. A subterranean maturation cellar contains small French-oak barrels.

Modern equipment is used to preserve the characteristics developed in the vineyard through vinification and ageing. The principal general methods are gentle grape pressing, precise control of fermentation temperatures, controlled pump-overs for red musts, temperature-controlled stainless-steel tanks and bottling in a sterile environment. Stainless steel is the principal material for fermentation and maturation. Small barrels have also been explored for selected red varieties for more than three decades, with oak intended to complement rather than dominate fruit and territorial character.

Sparkling wines are made by more than one process: the Martinotti method conducts the second fermentation in autoclaves, while the Classic Method conducts it in bottle. Production control extends across every stage, with process monitoring used for continual improvement under the quality-management system.

A recent investment programme adds or upgrades stainless-steel tanks, autoclaves, barriques, presses, a tangential filter, grape-marc distribution equipment, a compressor, depalletising equipment and logistics vehicles. It also covers winery automation and digital warehouse management.

San Simone’s declared values are responsibility toward the social and physical setting in which it works, passion for the work itself and transparency in its conduct. Family continuity is treated as the link between inherited experience and innovation.

Its mission is to control the complete production chain from vineyard to bottle while respecting raw material, identity and territory. Its vision joins care for the land and its history with sustainability, continual quality improvement and renewal of the family heritage.

Anna Brisotto interprets wine as encounter and storytelling: a means of communicating the family, its land and its identity. Antonio Brisotto frames vineyard and cellar decisions as a continuing dialogue among experience, intuition and nature. For him, each harvest is a singular, unrepeatable moment requiring silence and attention in the vineyard and precision and patience in the cellar.

Progetto Verde extends this thinking into agriculture, cellar work and social responsibility. Its premise is that farming should interact with nature and preserve natural balances. Environmental choices are also understood as care for local people, communities and cultural heritage. Technology and scientific expertise are valued when they improve precision, reduce impact and help the wines retain the identity of their vineyards.

The quality policy adds compliance, food safety and traceability, process-based and risk-based management, careful selection of suppliers, continuing staff training, research, innovation and transparent collaboration with customers and partners. Consumer satisfaction and continual improvement are formal objectives of the management system.