Burgundy’s Hospice de Beaune may have competition in the form of organic fine wine sale Grandi Vini Della Contea Per La Pace, held in the North Adriatic. Founded in 2021, the Grandi Vini Della Contea Per La Pace Auction (Grand Wine of Contea for Peace Auction) gavels each year in the last week of October at the Monastery of Castagnavizza/Kostanjevica, located in the Italian-Slovenian regions of Collio-Brda. The brainchild of Burgundian vicomte Charles-Louis de Noüe of Domaine Leflaive, nephew to Anne Claude Leflaive, it beats Burgundy’s premier organic fine wine offerings by four years. Noble heritage Drawn to the region by its Burgundy-like ‘ponca’ marl-limestone soils, de Noüe established Domaine Vicomte de Noüe-Marinič with rockstar local Alis Marinič of Goriska Brda in 2019. The Contea auction echoes de Noüe’s noble Burgundian heritage, without overshadowing it. Strategically, the late October auction follows early-mid October harvest and Italian wine award announcements, but precedes Hospices de Beaune in November. Furthermore, Contea auction producers must pledge membership to the Association of the Knights of the Cru Classification of the Empress Maria Theresa. The fraternity, fashioned after Burgundy’s La Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, draws its name from Empress-Queen Maria Theresa of Austria, former ruler of the Austrian-Hungarian empire. In 1787, the Empress issued a cru classification of wines grown within the county, or ‘Contea’, of Gorizia-Gradisca d’Isonzo. The detailed decree, written in Italian, ranked nearly 200 villages into nine tiers, based upon their “goodness.” It also predates Bordeaux’s famous 1855 classification. Forgotten over
This Article was originally published on The Drink Business - Fine Wine
