Storia
The Fantinel family’s beginnings in Collio
The family’s connection with Collio began in 1969. Mario Fantinel—known as Paron Mario—was a hotelier and restaurateur in northern Friuli whose enthusiasm for wine led him to become a producer. That year, he acquired his first vineyards in Collio.
Mario’s sons Luciano, Gianfranco and Loris subsequently became involved. They continued his work in the vineyards and cellar, enlarged the family’s holdings and introduced technical developments that included fertigation, laboratory clonal selection, temperature regulation for stainless-steel tanks and a substantial collection of wooden maturation vessels. The wider Fantinel business later passed to a third generation represented by Marco and Stefano Fantinel.
Tenuta Sant’Helena developed as the family’s estate at Vencò di Dolegna del Collio, beside the Slovenian border. Its identity was built around the Vencò vineyards, Collio’s ponca soils, a distinctive microclimate, clonal research and the cultivation of both native Friulian grapes and selected international varieties.
2011: hospitality at Vencò
By 2011, Tenuta Sant’Helena incorporated a company-owned restaurant at Vencò. In November it hosted a “Pranzo con il Vignaiolo” during San Martino in Cantina, pairing regional food with wines from the estate. The hospitality operation was later described as an “Enoteca con Cucina” and continued to host San Martino programming in 2015.
2012–2013: new territorial cuvées
In December 2012, Fantinel announced that two new Tenuta Sant’Helena cuvées would reach the market during 2013: Venko Collio Rosso and Frontiere Collio Bianco. Both names were chosen to evoke Vencò’s border setting. They were conceived from selected estate grapes as leading expressions of the Collio vineyards.
2015: development of the Appassimento program
In 2015, Fantinel presented a dedicated Appassimento program for Tenuta Sant’Helena’s red wines. It transferred experience accumulated elsewhere in the group to the milder, sunnier and well-ventilated Collio environment. The program combined hand selection, controlled drying in a fruttaio, extended maceration and maturation in oak. Its stated aim was to reinterpret a historic northeastern Italian practice through a contemporary Friulian approach.
During July 2015, Frontiere and Venko were also selected for guided tastings aboard Frecciarossa high-speed trains between Rome and Milan.
2019: Venko on a papal flight
In September 2019, Venko Collio Rosso was placed on an Alitalia flight carrying Pope Francis during his journey to Mozambique, Madagascar and Mauritius. The selection followed an earlier relationship between Fantinel and Alitalia for papal travel.
2020–2022: Frontiere becomes a varietal Pinot Bianco
The 2020 harvest marked a new direction for Frontiere. Formerly presented as a Collio Bianco cuvée, it became a pure Pinot Bianco sourced from a vineyard at Vencò that was described in 2022 as fifty years old. The change was publicly introduced in February 2022, with the mature vineyard and the 2020 vintage positioned as the basis for the wine’s revised identity.
2023: a new identity for the collection
In May 2023, the complete Tenuta Sant’Helena collection received new packaging. The redesign placed greater emphasis on origin and territorial identity, giving each wine an evocative name connected with the estate’s places, people, languages or border culture. The historic graphic motif—a stylized rendering of the lunette of the Tempietto Longobardo in Cividale del Friuli—was retained and emphasized through a poured-gold printing technique.
Terroir
Location and landscape
Tenuta Sant’Helena lies among the vineyards of Vencò di Dolegna del Collio, close to the Slovenian border. Vencò’s position is characterized as a historic meeting point of different peoples, languages and cultures. The Rijeka river borders the estate on the Slovenian side, while the Judri, or Iudrio, stream runs nearby and marks the boundary between the provinces of Gorizia and Udine.
The estate occupies a hill whose summit reaches 230 metres above sea level. A mature Pinot Bianco vineyard is situated at Vencò within this border landscape.
Climate
The climate is mild. The Julian Alps provide protection to the north, while the landscape opens southward toward the Adriatic Sea. Temperature, sunlight and ventilation are particularly important elements of the growing environment. The conditions associated with the estate’s Appassimento work include comparatively mild temperatures, generous sun exposure and effective ventilation.
Ponca
The soils consist of Eocene marl and sandstone. This alternating rocky formation is locally called ponca in Friulian. It forms the geological basis of the vineyards and is treated as central to the estate’s production styles, aromatic character and capacity for bottle development.
Vinificazione
Clonal research is a defining element of the estate’s work, particularly for its limited-production Sauvignon. The overall approach emphasizes careful matching of grape varieties to the Collio vineyards and gives particular attention to native Friulian varieties, including Friulano, Ribolla Gialla and Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso.
Harvest timing varies by grape and intended style. Several white varieties are picked during the first ten days of September. Red grapes are harvested toward the end of September. For the Appassimento program, experienced workers harvest by hand and select the best bunches, checking the health of the skins and choosing bunches with enough space between the berries to permit airflow during drying.
The estate’s mature Pinot Bianco planting at Vencò was approximately fifty years old in 2022. Its age and established rows are associated with continuity of quality and stylistic consistency.
White-wine production
Several of the estate’s white grapes are harvested during the first ten days of September. The documented approach for Friulano, Ribolla Gialla and Sauvignon uses fermentation and maturation in stainless-steel tanks. Temperature-controlled steel technology forms part of the wider Fantinel production infrastructure.
Red-wine production
Red grapes are harvested at the end of September. A portion may undergo Appassimento before fermentation. Current production descriptions specify fermentation in stainless steel followed by partial maturation in oak barrels for Venko, Mario Refosco and Neblo Cabernet Sauvignon.
Appassimento protocol
The estate’s detailed Appassimento program begins with a selective hand harvest. Bunches intended for drying are placed in boxes inside a fruttaio. Temperature, airflow and humidity are technologically controlled to reproduce the conditions required for gradual drying. The fruit is inspected daily during the crucial opening days to prevent mould and rot.
The program has used approximately eight weeks of drying for selected portions of red grapes. Documented protocols applied Appassimento to about 20% of the Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso and Cabernet Sauvignon fruit and about 25% of the Venko blend. Refosco and Cabernet Sauvignon underwent approximately 25 days of submerged-cap maceration, followed by about 18 months in 30–60 hl vessels made from Allier and Slavonian oak. The Venko protocol used roughly 20 days of slow, temperature-controlled maceration and 24 months in 30 hl Allier and Slavonian oak vessels.
The method was developed to increase fruit intensity, aromatic complexity, body, smoothness and balance while retaining a recognizable estate style. Long oak maturation provides the final structural development.
Filosofia
Tenuta Sant’Helena’s identity rests on a rare microclimate, clonal research and the deliberate elevation of native Friulian varieties. Production is limited and shaped to reflect the character of the Collio vineyards rather than to impose a single style across all grapes.
Ponca is treated as the essential starting point: the marl-and-sandstone formation underpins the estate’s approach to aromatic definition and ageing potential. Mature vineyards, including the old Pinot Bianco planting, are valued for continuity and stylistic coherence.
The Appassimento program expresses a complementary principle: historic northeastern Italian practice can be retained while its execution is refined through temperature, humidity and airflow control. Tradition, technical research and modern production equipment are therefore used together. At group level, the Fantinel family describes careful respect for the vine’s natural cycle and vegetative balance as the foundation of quality, alongside close grape selection and precise cellar work.