The recent death of Benito Nonino, one of the fathers of Italian grappa, Friulian in particular, cannot but prompt some considerations about the role that the Nonino family has had, and still has, in the world of agribusiness in our country.
Benito was a great distiller, produced grappas of extraordinary value for decades.
But the Noninos were not just “grappa makers.”
His wife Giannola, with his participation, has literally cleared customs for such a popular product as precisely grappa, through initiatives that have also made their mark on the world of Italian culture. The award Risit d’Aur, born in 1975 aimed at the valorization of the peasant culture (today we would say of “biodiversity”) and later joined by the Nonino Prize for Literature, have become absolute landmarks.
She, with the initial help of Luigi Veronelli, put together a jury whose participants in the early years included Mario Soldati, Gianni Brera, Ermanno Olmi, David Maria Turoldo, among others.
Among the awardees were as many as six future Nobel laureates, demonstrating incredible foresight.
History
Only a few years earlier, in 1973, Benito and Giannola had come up with single-varietal grappa, gradually using the pomace of Picolit, Ribolla, Schiopettino, Verduzzo, Tazzelenghe, Pignolo, the native Friulian varieties, in short, saving several from abandonment and extinction.
Something that determined a great closeness between the Noninos and the wine world, at first Friulian, then national.
So much so that in the 1990s Verona’s Vinitaly admitted the Noninos’ stand inside the fair among the wine producers.
A stand that was initially shared with Gaja and Ca’ del Bosco. Finally, the generational transition between the parents, who have become real stars, and the daughters Cristina, Antonella and Elisabetta who today are firmly at the helm of the company.
In between is an extraordinary history, made up of bottles of grappa from the work of great designers, of products such as U’e, next-generation distillates, of international recognition of the products, the company and the protagonists of all this.
A story that cannot be told in a few words, and which is contained in publications, such as “The Nonino Case” by Cristiana Compagno.
Then articles in the world’s leading newspapers.
All to determine a true legend.
Da parte mia solo un breve ricordo di a man as serious and shy as Benito, who had a long and formidable life, with that volcano Giannola beside him and with three daughters that anyone would have liked to have.
