Schioppettino is a red grape of Friuli Venezia Giulia, grown mainly around Prepotto in the Colli Orientali del Friuli, on the border with Slovenia. It makes medium-bodied reds with red and black berries and a clear black pepper note.
The grape is also known as Ribolla Nera, though it is not related to Ribolla Gialla. Its name probably comes from the Italian schioppettare, "to crackle", perhaps for the crisp berries or for the lightly fizzy wine once made from it. After phylloxera and the World Wars, Schioppettino almost disappeared. In the 1970s a few growers in the Prepotto area, led by the Rapuzzi family of Ronchi di Cialla, saved the last old vines and began to make serious wine from it. It was later authorised for planting again, and today it is one of Friuli's signature native reds.
The climate is cool, with rain and big day-night temperature changes, which keeps the wines fresh and aromatic.
Younger wines are fragrant and peppery. Wines aged in large barrels or barriques from the Prepotto hills gain depth and can age for ten years or more.
Start with a Colli Orientali del Friuli Schioppettino, ideally from Prepotto or Cialla. Producers worth knowing include Ronchi di Cialla, Vigna Petrussa, Ronco Severo, Le Due Terre, Moschioni, La Tunella, Marco Sara, Vignai da Duline and Bressan.
Schioppettino grows alongside Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso and Pignolo, and Friuli's whites Friulano and Ribolla Gialla. Read our best Friuli wines, the best Italian red wines, or browse the grape varieties index.