The Jermann family came from Austria to Italy in 1881. It was Anton Jermann who settled in the area that the family remains today, and who is credited with beginning what has become a renowned wine heritage.
Tucked into the Collio Goriziano wine region of far northeastern Italy, Jermann Winery boasts 130 hectares of prime vineyards, as well as 20 hectares devoted to other agricultural uses. The entire production is committed to sustainable agriculture, and no pesticides, fertilizers or chemicals are used. The winery produces between 800,000-900,000 bottles per year.
On a warm summer day, the Wine Revealed crew met with Felix and Sylvia Jermann, 5th generation winemakers in this family business. They grew up here and were raised in the vineyards and the day-to-day operation. Of working at the family winery, Sylvia says, “I think we fell in love with that emotion that it gives us when we come through the door.”
She continues, “Honestly it’s amazing how from a fruit, you just get the juice out, and how you’re able to change it, work with the wine and care for it, until it becomes the product that you end up drinking.”
While Sylvia relishes the science and chemistry behind wine, her brother Felix is fascinated by innovation. At the Jermann winery, innovation is always tempered by tradition, so Felix sees his interests as paralleling those of his sister. The common goal is to always improve the quality of the wines.
Felix says that their father Silvio taught them three very clear rules: “Order, cleanliness, tidiness – and order again.” This is their blueprint for respectful treatment of the land, the property, and all the people they work with. Regarding the positive workplace that they strive to cultivate, Sylvia adds, “to make good wine you have to have a good environment in the winery.”
Their slogan is “Where dreams have no end,” loosely based upon a U2 song that their father was once a fan of (“Where the Streets have no Name”). This is the name of one of their signature wines, often referred to simply as “Dreams.” It is composed of 97% top-quality Chardonnay grapes plus 3% of a secret blend. They believe this captures the spirit of the winery.
Sometimes circumstances will prompt their father or grandfather to reminisce about ancestors in earlier times at the winery. While they are inspired by these ancestors, Sylvia adds she is especially inspired by how her own father revolutionized the business while still being true to the traditional style: “That’s what I find inspiring, finding new ways to come up with good, high-quality wine but still integrating some older and really important passages and methods.”.
The winery is in an area of Italy that is very near the Slovenian border, with the Collio Goriziano wine region extending in both directions from the border. For three years now they have made a wine from grapes grown in nearby Slovenia, and they hope to do more projects with Slovenian growers.
Felix traveled a lot before returning home and settling down to the family wine business. He explains, “I can be anywhere else in the world, but there’s only going to be one true thing to me, which is going to be home.”
Much of Felix’s love for winemaking is intertwined with the reactions that his wines inspire – he offers that “it transmits emotions through the smells, through the aromas, through the mouthfeel.” He believes that people love “the communal environment that wine creates, the enjoyment of drinking it, and sharing time together.”
Sylvia continues this line of thought by describing their own approach as, “What sort of emotions do we want to transmit to the person that is drinking this wine?” She said wine holds a great power to transform the atmosphere.
Sylvie’s goal for the winery is to maintain the tradition that is in the wine. She says people can get carried away by fashion and trends, and this happens with wines as much as anything else. She wishes to maintain tradition while continuously improving the wines. Felix has a goal of communicating Jermann’s passion, their history, and their land. Additionally, he would love it if they could inspire other potential winemakers.
Visiting the Jermann cellars was a fascinating and sensory experience, as the Wine Revealed crew was greeted with amazing aromas. Felix echoed this by explaining that they pay attention to and are attuned to every little smell when working with the wine because it plays a factor in the quality, “If there are any wrong smells, we have to react to it and take care of it.”
In the Jermann wine cellar, one barrel has an image of their grandparents carved into the side. It was created in honor of their 60th wedding anniversary and holds Tunina wine, a lovely blend of Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Ribolla Gialla, Malvasia and little percentage of a sweet local grape variety. They refer to it as “the wine of love,” as it was named for the lady who was land’s previous owner.
They use a style of barrel called a barrique, and theirs are larger than normal barriques. This is the signature barique size of their vineyard and a nod to their Austro-Hungarian heritage.
One special feature of the winery is a section of barriques that they call the “family tree.” These are wine barrels representing family members going back five generations, and include barriques named for Sylvia and Felix.
Looking closely at Sylvia’s barrique, you see that her middle name is Tunina. She tells the story that on the day she was born, the family’s Tunina wine won the Best White Wine of Italy award. It almost seems poetic – this is a nod to the past, an ode to quality wines, and a view to the future of a great wine family.