Empress Maria Theresa’s Cru Auction: 78.000 euros for the territory between Italy and Slovenia

The “Auction of the Great Wines of the County for Peace” has raised 78.000 euros for history, collectibles, and philanthropy. The auction was promoted by the Association of Knights of the Classification of the Crus of Empress-Queen Maria Theresa, which donated a barrique of Chardonnay, Ribolla Gialla, and Friulano/Jakot for white wines, as well as Pinot Noir and Merlot for red wines from their wineries (each barrique yields 300 numbered bottles, the name of the buyer on the label, totaling 15 lots. They were sold recently at the Dorotheum auction house in Vienna for restoring the Castagnevizza Monastery in Nova Gorica, Palazzo Coronini Cronberg Foundation in Gorizia and to promote the area. Per tradition, the historic cellar of the Monastery, today called “The Cellar of Great Wines of Friendship and Peace”, hosted the auction next to the resting place of the last King of France, Charles X of Bourbon, brother of Louis XVI, guillotined during the French Revolution together with his wife Marie Antoinette. He was buried here, after being exiled during the second French Revolution in 1830, as he chose Gorizia for his exile, and is the only French monarch whose tomb is located outside France.
The Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca was an ancient county that belonged to the Habsburg monarchy. It is now on the border between Italy and Slovenia, between the Adriatic Sea and the Eastern Alps. The territory has always cultivated great wines, thanks to the Ponca soil. On March 17, 1787, the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, one of the most important rulers in history, issued a notice by the “Imperial Royal Superior Commission for the Rule of Contribution”, containing the “Classification of wines produced in the united principalities of the County of Gorizia and Gradisca with regard to their quality”. This was the first in history (the one for Bordeaux wines is from 1855, and was rediscovered by the Italian historian, Stefano Cosma). Maria Theresa (Vienna, May 13, 1717 - Vienna, November 29, 1780) was one of the most important rulers in history. She was the reigning Archduchess of Austria, Apostolic Queen of Hungary, reigning Queen of Bohemia and Croatia and Slavonia, reigning Duchess of Parma and Piacenza, reigning Duchess of Milan and Mantua, Grand Duchess consort of Tuscany and Empress consort of the Holy Roman Empire as wife of Francis I of Lorraine, founder, with her husband, of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. She was the mother of Emperors Joseph II and Leopold II, as well as Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, and Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples and Sicily. The quality and identity of the wines the Empress acknowledged are today some of the finest wines of the Italian and Slovenian Collio, Brda, the Eastern Hills and the Isonzo Valley, Karst and Vipava. Their wineries have once again donated prized lots for the auction (starting bid at 3.000 euros), and have united in the "Association of Knights of the Order of Merlot" of the Classification of Crus of the Empress-Queen Maria Theresa”, which has become a regular event for collectors and philanthropists, chaired by Boštjan Horvat, Superior of the Franciscan Monastery of Castagnavizza, and entrepreneur Riccardo Illy. The Association was founded by Charles-Louis de Noüe, representing one of the most important families of Burgundy wine, Domaine Leflaive, and Alis Marinič of the historic family of producers in the Slovenian Collio Marinič, and vignerons, together with Domaine Vicomte de Noüe-Marinič. It includes the companies: Attems - Frescobaldi and Rocca Bernarda; Barone Ritter De Záhony; Cantina Sanzin; Carolina Jakončič Winery; Castello di Spessa: Domačija Medot; Fondazione Villa Russiz; Klet Brda; Kmetija Prinčič; from Tomaž Prinčič to Korsič Wines; Kristančič Iz Medane; Lucio Bernot - Casa Delle Rose; Marjan Simčič Domaine; Nebo Winery; Nonino Distillatori in Posestvo Burja - Primož Lavrenčič; Rokovi Vinogradi - Andrej Sirk in Subida di Monte; Sylvmann, Valter Sirk; Vina Leban, Vina Štekar; Vini Noüe Marinič, and Zarova, united to support the heritage of a territory, long time theater of conflict in the heart of Central Europe, and today a laboratory of peace, thanks also to wine.