History
Once in Melbourne they were met by Arnold. Destined for Bonegilla near Albury, the first stop for many migrants on their way to work on the Snowy Mountain Scheme was Myrtleford. Arnold took responsibility for the family housing them and finding them work digging potatoes in Myrtleford, where they decided to stay.
Their new life in Australia was not easy, but good advice came via a letter written by a close aunty giving Rosetta encouragement "take the time to learn the language" and "do not make your children work too hard after school". This would allow them to mix with local children and learn their new culture. Rosa heeded the wise words, bringing up her children with open minds and a good grounding in the English language.
Roberto's yearning for his old trade of fitting and turning initially made harvesting potatoes an odious task. But Rosa's refusal to move elsewhere meant that he had to stay. Together with his brothers (a fourth Pizzini brother Alfonzo and his wife Maria had now also made the trip from Italy) and their wives, Roberto and Rosa began to grow tobacco in Myrtleford, share farming for the first year and then on their own. This consortium of brotherhood encapsulated the Italian culture at the time and proved to be the important success factor for the four families.
At this time they grew the tobacco seedlings in Corowa where it was warmer and less frost-prone and then transported them to Myrtleford when they were ready to plant. They spent alternate weeks looking after the young plants in Corowa, living in a small tin shed with a kerosene stove and lamp. They lived on the bare minimum, but sugar was one thing Roberto could not go without. Running out one day the shy young Italian made his way to the local store to replenish his stocks. Still not able to speak English he began to describe what he wanted to buy. This proved impossible and after a long process of eliminating products they finally came to the one he wanted. Haphazardly, sugar was the first English word that Roberto learnt.
The four brothers and their families continued to grow tobacco together and progressively grew their business to be the largest tobacco producing company in the southern hemisphere. At one point it was able to employ and support seventeen share farmers as well as the four families. This was helped by the brothers expanding their operations to include tobacco growing sites in the King Valley.
In the late 1960s the four brothers decided that it was time to divide the business, three of the brothers (George, Arnold and Roberto) remained in the King Valley, while Alfonzo remained in the Alpine Valley.
In 1996 Alfredo and Katrina began selling their wines at their cellar door - a converted tobacco drying kiln on the property. They had 300 cases of both Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon to sell, at the time they thought it would take forever to move as the King Valley was a relatively unknown wine region, let alone a food and wine tourism destination.
To encourage visitation to their cellar door, the Pizzini's invested in three hospitality businesses around 1995. The first was a little restaurant in Oxley purchased along with three other local families, and leased to two new-comers to the region - Steve and Will Flamsteed - who began the King River Cafe. The Cafe quickly attracted many visitors who enjoyed the region's wines.
The second was the Mountain View Hotel in Whitfield. Daughter Natalie and Alfredo's nephew, Adam Pizzini, took the reigns and quickly set about turning the hotel into an award winning country hotel, well known for its food and hospitality. Lastly they renovated a cottage on the property and turned it into self-contained Vineyard Accommodation.
These investments were instrumental in driving visitation through the new cellar door. Whilst no longer an investor in the King River Cafe, the family is still hands on with the running of the Mountain View hotel in Whitfield.
At the beginning of the 2000s the family decided to concentrate on the production of Italian varietals. New vineyard sites were planted with the latest and best clones available in Australia including Sangiovese, Pinot Grigio, Brachetto, Nebbiolo and Prosecco. Over this time, Alfredo and Joel evaluated sites post-vintage to determine the future of the varieties on these particular sites. If the site consistently produced below standard fruit, the vines were grafted over to a variety more suited to the terrain.
The building of the new cellar door began in 2009 incorporating a cooking school run by Katrina Pizzini. Katrina has expanded this business that includes a cookbook and specialty produce.
As the family has grown, so too has the business. From the initial 600 case production - which they thought would never sell - Pizzini has grown to producing over 30,000 cases annually, much of which is sold domestically. More importantly, it is the growth of the Pizzini family that is most satisfying. All of Alfredo and Katrina's children have now married and begun their own families. Currently they have eight grandchildren with the hope of having at least a couple more.