WHO WE ARE

We are all the Azienda Agricola Cecchini Marco, a small winery located in the Eastern Hills of Friuli, in Faedis, halfway between Udine and Slovenia.

We have been making wine for over twentyfive years with craftsmanship and love, producing both organic and traditional wines. It was 1998, I am Marco and I was studying for a degree in currency market economics. My grandfather Alfio had grown old and asked me to take care of the four anarchic vineyards attached to the countryside depot he had bought years ago, because he was tired and didn't feel like doing it anymore. I called four friends for help, we got down to work, we learned how to do it, we harvested the vintage and I realized that I wanted to do that thing, wine and farming. I quickly finished university and moved to the countryside. I started transforming the depot into a house and the thicket of brambles on the hill into a real vineyard. It took me three seasons and two hailstorms. I studied and experimented for years. I found my measure: five hectares of organic farming - unofficially since 2004 and officially since 2014 - which correspond to the possibility of working independently, and by hand. I do everything by hand, vine by vine, five passes per year for each one, using only sulfur and copper, taking care of the grapes to intervene as little as possible on the wine, and taking care of the cellar to make the grapes into a delicious wine. During the harvest, we become a team: in addition to some of the same friends from the first time, for some years now, a group of asylum seekers has been helping me thanks to the collaboration with a local nonprofit organization, and my wife Paola, who also helps me with hospitality on the farm. We also host the hives of a couple of excellent beekeepers: the health of their bees reflects the health of our vineyards. We imagine the future like this: faces and people behind a product, finally reciprocal communication, solidarity among small producers and many small consumers united together, network and relationship also thanks to new technologies, handshakes and greetings at the end of an autumn