Villa Russiz farm has a story of great insights and generosity, passion, commitment, tradition and sentiment. The great insight is that of the French Count Teodoro de La Tour, who, in 1869, saw in the sunny hills of Collio a great place to live along with his Austrian wife Elvine Ritter von Zahony, and especially to give new home to his passion for the cultivation of the vine and to modern winemaking techniques that, right in France, had already at that time great development.
Teodoro de La Tour took first the essence that has made great wines of Collio in the world: the extraordinary microclimate can offer the greatest benefits in the encounter between the cool winds of the Julian Alps and the sea breezes from the nearby Adriatic Sea, both sweetened by the perfectly exposed hills of Capriva del Friuli.
This gave rise to what is still the fundamental basis of Villa Russiz: new varieties more suited to the area and able to develop the quality at the highest level, a wonderful wine cellar with great vaults completely underground, a passion and an unwavering commitment to the care of details, from rows, to the winery, to the bottle.
The meticulous passion for winemaking is today more than ever alive in Villa Russiz, in the 94 hectares that make up the farm, of which 40 are devoted to vineyards, with special attention to maintain the number of plants per hectare between 4,500 and 7,000, ensuring then grapes of great concentration.
The wines of the Villa Russiz Foundation are all part of the Collio designation of controlled origin, as well as the three cru, Sauvignon de La Tour, Gräfin de La Tour and Graf de La Tour, spearheads of a production that from experience have been able to grasp the ideas for modern research of the highest quality, for a coherent development path and to great wines of international level.
Villa Russiz has been and remains a symbol of passion and feeling. The passion of Elvine Ritter, who after her husband’s death in 1894, decided to devote herself completely to the orphans and the
abandoned girls; later, with the outbreak of the World War I, the project was suspended because of the war that involved also Villa Russiz.
In 1919, the noblewoman Adele Cerruti gave back to Villa Russiz its function. In 1926 the Institute was officially recognized as a non–profit organization and after the Italiy–Austria agreement, the Foundation passed to the Italian Government, under the direction of Adele Cerruti, under the name of Regina Margherita Orphanage.
Villa Russiz, to date, is an educational center that offers different types of services for the protection of childhood and the development of the socio–relational dimension in children. It focuses on the welcoming of children aged 3 to 14 who have family problems, moved away from their household, by decree of the Juvenile Court, and entrusted to the Social Services.
From IPAB (Istituto Pubblico Assistenza e Beneficenza) after a century, it has regained the legal configuration of Foundation, in accordance with the will of the donor Elvine Ritter von Zahony and her executrix Countess Adele Cerruti.
In January 2009, the Villa Russiz Foundation was created with the same institutional aim that has been with us for over 100 years: to assist, educate and give a home with love to the less fortunate children.
