Cheesemaker, dairyman, shepherd: words long spoken in the masculine. Issue 33 of Mangiavino climbs to the high pastures of Carnia and the Dolomites with three women who are rewriting that grammar. Then it returns to the vineyards. There it finds a Friulano that has traded power for grace, and the labels of Livon, Muzic and Ermacora, where a wine speaks before it is poured. The issue closes with a walk through Alvaro Pecorari's Isonzo Valley, where glacial stones meet the slopes of the Collio.<br><br>This is a selection of stories in English from the bimonthly magazine on wine and food culture, published in collaboration with AIS Friuli Venezia Giulia.

In Focus

ALPINE DAIRIES AND TRANSUMANCE A TIME FOR WOMEN

Future and Innovation

THE FRIULIAN HAS ALREADY GOT IT ALL FIGURED OUT

All Round

WHERE WINE TAKES SHAPE

ISONZO VALLEY THE LAND OF DREAMS

All Round WHERE WINE TAKES SHAPE Marco Cucinotta We now arrive at the second installment of our journey through the wines of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, exploring symbols, design and identity. A wine label always tells a story   even before the first sip is taken. Ermacora, Muzic and Livon reveal the inspiration behind their choices. I n Italy, it is rare to find a region where wine labels have such a distinctive voice and, at the same time, are so understated and reluctant to draw attention to themselves. However, in Friuli Venezia Giulia, wine labels seem to share a sort of silent discipline. They rarely seek to make a dramatic impression, almost never become excessive, and yet they convey a great deal. Behind understated typography, a minimalist colour scheme or a space deliberately left blank, there often lies a precise vision of the wine and its terroir. Friulian labels seem to mirror the wines they represent. As a matter of fact, they favour depth and restraint over immediate spectacle. The Central European sensibility has also left clear traces in the visual language: clean typefaces, controlled colours, images reduced to the essentials. Rather than seeking to catch the eye, they seem to pursue balance and precision. Yet, behind this shared aesthetic, there are profoundly different stories. Each winery chooses its own way of telling its story. Some build their identity around the territory, others around a personal signature, whilst others transform art into a visual language. Because it is worth remembering that without its own label, every bottle would be silent. 8 

Livon: when art finds its way onto the label It is not often that a winery s visual identity begins by leafing through an art book. Yet, in the case of Livon, one of the company s most recognisable features today stems precisely from a seemingly chance encounter: an elegant, floating female figure, destined to become much more than just a logo. The story dates back to 1985, many years after the winery s founding, when Valneo Livon was struck by the works of Ert . Valentina Brosolo, currently in charge of tours and hospitality, recounts that in that figure Valneo saw  the fulfilment of what had been the family s promise: the elegance and prestige of the Collio region . From that moment, a journey began that went far beyond the simple choice of a corporate image. The Winged Woman was reworked and mirrored until she was transformed into a  C  for Collio. A transition which, as the company explains, had a specific meaning:  It is The Winged Woman, 9,000 bras and an American frontier Labels tell stories. Some, however, seem to have been written by a screenwriter with a keen taste for the absurd. The year is 1986: Livon has just adopted its  Winged Woman  brand, and Italian wine is going through one of the most delicate periods in its history, with the fallout from the the identity of the appellation that makes a powerful methanol statement on Livon s labels . nine thousand bottles bound for California is That symbol was intended to tell the story of a territory, but without taking the most obvious route. The aim, in fact, was not to depict the landscape in a didactic manner. Instead, it was to  represent the Collio in all its nuances, without ever directly showing the hill . It is a crisis leading to extremely strict controls on exports. A consignment of around stopped at the American border. So far, nothing particularly surprising. However, the issue had nothing to do with the wine itself, nor with the documentation, nor indeed with any health concerns. The problem was the label. According to US Border Control, in fact, the Winged Woman was simply too daring for the American market. concept that almost takes on an artistic dimension: to Its Art Deco elegance had suddenly been deemed evoke rather than describe. a touch of comedy about it: thousands of tiny  bras  Over the years, the Winged Woman has ceased to be merely a brand symbol. It has become a recognisable presence, capable of evoking a specific imagery even before the wine is mentioned. Brosolo observes that  it conveys an emotion even before it conveys a winery , inappropriate. The solution that was adopted has were produced for the bottles to make the winged woman s appearance more in keeping with the sensibilities of the time. The story did not end there. For several years, a modified version of the label stripped of some of its original elements  even circulated in the United States. Then, seven years later, it was realised that the problem had particularly in terms of elegance. probably never really been the Winged Woman Viewed today, that insight seems to have something unintended marketing: even though people say surprisingly contemporary about it. With an almost provocative definition, Brosolo notes that in the first place. It serves as a small lesson in that a label should attract attention, perhaps it is not always necessary to take this statement quite so literally. the Livon family had envisaged a sort of  artificial 9 

Women of the alpine dairies, a new Friulano, the stories behind Friulian wine labels and the Isonzo Valley. June 2026 issue