Friuli’s fantastic whites slip under the radar
One of the least known regions in Italy makes some of the country’s finest whites. The tiny borderland of Friuli Venezia Giulia overlooking the Adriatic sea in Italy’s north-east corner might be a powerhouse of top quality white wines, but it is a strangely forgotten region.
Today this small region, just two hours from Venice, and bordering Austria and Slovenia, has a thriving wine industry run by small family wineries (rather than co-operatives which dominate neighbouring Trentino-alto Adige), focusing on grapes which suit Friuli’s climate and soil.
The focus in Friuli is on both local and international grapes. The most important are friulano, vitovska, ribolla gialla, picolit and malvasia for white and refosco and schioppettino for red – but pinot grigio, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and merlot are increasingly popular. Pinot grigio has now sadly overtaken historic friulano, grown here since the 11th century, as the most planted variety.
The white wine focus is influenced by Friuli’s climate. The Alps shelter vines from cold Siberian currents, but fresh dry Bora winds blow in from upland Slovenia and mild sea breezes from the Adriatic. Marl and limestone dominate, which suits white grapes, but on the windswept Carso near Trieste, on land formerly in Slovenia, pure limestone bedrock has an iron-rich topsoil adding intense minerality.
Friuli’s best sub-regions hug the Slovenian border around the town of Gorizia; some winemakers have vineyards in both Italy and Slovenia. Colli Orientali to the north is more Alpine, whilst southerly Collio is warmer, influenced by the Adriatic where the historic 19th century Silvio Jermann and Eugenio Collavini estates are based. In lower Isonzo, north of Isonzo river, producers like Vie de Romans and Lis Neris make increasingly stylish wines. In Grave, fertile flat vineyards make less concentrated pinot grigio.
About one third of Colli Orientali’s vineyards are red – with merlot and carmenere increasingly fashionable, but the most interesting reds are from local Refosco. The Carso near Trieste is well known for minerally styles of Refosco, called Terrano.
With a difficult past, it has made the local Friuli wine families even more determined to succeed. Livio Felluga, who came from Istria and established in Brazzano in the 1950s, is one of the best known pioneers in Fruili along with Leonardo Specogna who returned to Colli Orientali in Friuli in 1963.
Newer estates to watch are Vie de Romans, run by Gianfranco Gallo who began bottling his own in 1978 focusing on single vineyards, Benjamin Zidarich on the emerging Carso region near Trieste, who started tending his family’s single hectare in 1988 and dug his own new cellar out of limestone rock – and in Collio, Patrizia Felluga who with her son Antonio and daughter Caterina focuses on stylish blends of local and international grapes.
Friuli is well known for ‘natural’ wines, the best orange wines made in terracotta amphora by local cult star Josko Gravner, whose family have grown vines in Oslavia since 1901.
Now is a great time to discover Friuli with three quality vintages: 2015, 2016 and 2017. As in much of Italy, 2017 was dramatically reduced, as vineyards were affected by April frost, June hail and severe August winds.