Winetasting in Friuli-Venezia-Giulia

I'm sitting on my balcony in Portoroz, Slovenia, basking in the sun, looking out onto the Adriatic Sea, contemplating my next swim, and recovering from yesterday's events: a tasting through through the Collio area of Friuli-Venezia-Giulia.

A quick aside before jumping in... G. and I rented a ridiculously small car, a Fiat Panda, it felt like clown college. Anyways, as we're approaching Collio on some side road which no doubt we never planned on taking, we see this incredible monument, not at all sign-posted. It was the Redipuglia War Memorial, a tribute to the more than 100,000 Italian soldiers who fell at this site in WWI. It was incredibly humbling in scope and scale:


Redipuglia Memorial from afar


A view across one step


Schiopetto – Moving on, our first stop was a complete accident – we were trying to head north from Goricza to Oslavje, but somehow ended up going a few kilometers out of town going west. Passing through Caprivo del Friuli, we spotted a sign for the wine trail, and this was the first property we came across. It was very sleepy looking, but we drove up anyways. Getting out of the car and kind of wondering where the front door, a young woman came out and asked us what we were looking for. I was pretty sure we were about to be chased off the property, but she said that they were just finishing up lunch, and if we could wait a few moments, she would arrange a tasting.


The Schiopetto tasting room

2007 Pinot Grigio (13% abv) – Generally not a fan of this varietal, but this was very nice. Fragrant nose of acacia and tropical fruits (I’ve had one like this before, I believe it was the Oriel Pinot Grigio). Very clean on the palate, intense and bright acidity, but delicately flavoured at the same time. A pinot grigio I would drink again. 11 Euros.

2007 Tocai Friuliano (13% abv) – Delicate nose of white flowers, almonds and pears. Dry, with a good body and moderate acidity, and again delicately flavoured, more sweet almonds and pears. 11 Euros.

2007 Pinot Bianco (13% abv) – Intensely floral nose, with strong cherry and apple blossom notes. Very dry, with a rather bold, floral taste, yet, clean and refreshing. 10 Euros.

2007 Savignon (local spelling, 13% abv) - A strong herbal and vegetal nose, green peppers, eucalyptus and sage, fuzzy tomato leaves. Silky body and slightly subdued acidity. Balanced and clean finish, but the nose is a bit too strong and green for my tastes. Not as offputting to me as the NZ SB’s, but still. 11 Euros.

2007 Blanc des Rossis (13% abv) – An everything but the kitchen sink cuvee, this is 50% tocai friuliano and then equal measures of pinot grigio, sauvignon, and malvasia. This also usually contains ribolla gialla, but Schiopetto’s 2007 harvest was considered unsatisfactory. Mostly fermented in Inox, but 5% of the malvasia is fermented in oak tonneaux, and remaining on its yeast for 8 months. This lends a rather noticeable roundness to this blend, compared to the single varietal wines. Intense nose, an amalgam of things. Yes, it is well balanced, harmonious even, and easy drinking. I think it a bit too polished for my liking, but it wasn’t bad. 12 Euros.

2007 Mario Schiopetto (14% abv) – A 50:50 blend of chardonnay and tocai friuliano, with 60% of fermentation taking place in stainless steel tanks and 40% in new French oak (the only other Schiopetto white wine that sees any oak.) Very perfumed nose, sweet bakery notes, vanilla, and balsam. On the palate, it was easy to pick out the tocai friuliano from the chardonnay – the oakiness was evident but judicious. The tocai friuliano appears to have lent some darker tea and mineral notes. Pleasant quince and dried fruit, with good acidity. I felt that the varietals hadn’t quite integrated, but Mikaela assured us that this was painfully young and would require some patience. I bought a bottle of the 2006 and will give it a shot in a year or so. This was the most expensive white wine we tasted on our tour, but still only 19 euros.

2003 Blumeri (15% abv) – A blend primarily of merlot and cabernet sauvignon, with a bit of refosco dal peduncolo rosso. The oak is pretty evident, with bright cherry and raspberry notes on the nose, and a clear cherry vanilla cola vibe going on.. we were told that the red wines aren’t such a focus for the winery, but rather made to fill out their portfolio as demanded by their restaurant and distribution customers. Certainly not a bad wine, but nothing special as far as I’m concerned. 19 euros.

2003 Rivarossa (14% abv) - a blend of merlot, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, and refosco dal peduncolo rosso. Immediately reminded me of a recioto style wine. We learned that this characteristic comes from the refosco grape, which even in tiny percentages has a powerful personality. Warm red fruit, vanilla, and spice on the nose, full bodied, tannic on the body, with dried fruit, chocolate, raspberry and some liquorice. I much preferred this to the Blumeri. 16 euros.



Grauner – This might only be available from the man’s barn on this hilltop in San Florian del Collio. I think we nearly walked into a “domestic”, I say “I think” because I’m pretty sure they weren’t speaking Italian (probably Slovenian, since we had just passed a sign saying, “Slovenia, 0.5km”)… they also looked pretty stunned to see two 6 foot Indian chaps who haven't missed many meals walking up. I said, “posso probare il vino?” (which, I hope, meant "can I try the wine?") - the reply was “Veni, veni” (come, come), and then the shouting began… the old man wanted to give us some pretty scaly looking glasses before his wife, thankfully, interceded. We tried their 2007 Friuliano, which admittedly was pretty good (won some awards too, at some wine competition in California. I don’t put much stock in these things, but the man had his medal hung up in the “tasting barn/packaging centre/livestock washing room / cellar/ torture dungeon/ fermenting chamber”, so I couldn’t help but notice.) I bought a bottle for a whopping 5 euros and will taste this at leisure later on.


San Florian del Collio

Humar – on the same hilltop as Grauner, but a rather more professional operation. I think we woke the proprietress up, she looked pretty sleepy, and asked us if we could wait 15 minutes or so (after letting us drive into the gated compound.) Humar used to have a U.S. importer, and is looking to get back, but currently this is only available in Italy, Austria, Germany and the U.K.

2007 Tocai Friuliano. Herbal nose, actually quite similar to the Schiopetto version – sage and eucalyptus – is this a characteristic profile? Nice acidity, citrus, minerality and a bit of orange peel to add interest. 6 Euros

2007 Ribolla Gialla – delicate nose of almond oil and olives in brine, slightly oily on the palate, with more nuts and fruit pits, pleasant acidity, and really mouthwatering. At 6 Euros, this is a village burning, war-mongering, rage raising value.

2006 Refosco – This is a local red varietal. On the nose, sweet and sour berries, a hint of dairy as well. Acidic and very tannic, to the point of roughness. The server indicated that this was just about to be released for sale, but that it was indeed very very young, and that the edges would soften considerably. 6 Euros.


Simon Komjanc – This property is located just around the corner from Humar in San Floriano del Collio. We met the younger Komjanc just hopping off a tractor, but he bade us follow him to the tasting room anyways. This actually really nicely captures the spirit in which we've been received... we seemed to be the only ones on the wine trail all day, and every winery appeared to be in sleep mode, but they all turned on the lights for us...

2007 Tocai Friuliano (13% abv) – Terrifically interesting nose of lemongrass, lemon zest, and neem. On the palate, more neem and lemons, good acidity. Very interesting, but perhaps a bit too strongly flavoured for more than a glass. 6 Euros.

2007 Ribolla Gialla (14% abv) – Funky nose, with musty and nutty elements co-mingling… the funkiness subsides quickly though. On the palate, more nuttiness, nut oils, a cider element, and bright lemonesque acidity. Good stuff. 6 Euros.


Oscar Sturm – the current heirs are 5th generation winemakers, hailing originally from Austria (Styria), but have been in this area since this area was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This winery does have a California based importer, as well as an importer in Japan.

2007 Pinot Grigio (14% abv): Highly perfumed, floral nose, white flowers. On the sweet side, relatively low acidity, but again clean and more flavor than I normally anticipate from this varietal. Light citrus, minerals, hint of acacia. 9 Euros

2007 Savignon (14% abv): Strong, almost overpowering nose. First impression, again, is of a mix of eucalyptus and sage. This was confusing, but Sturm says that the bloodlines for Tocai Friuliano and Sauvignon are closely related and can be easily mistaken for each other. I could see this nose being mistaken for cat piss, but there’s a certain high tone element that’s missing in that (that’s a positive). On the palate, more eucalyptus, but also fresh green grass and green apple, positive acidity and a surprising amount of body. 9 Euros

2007 Andritz Bianco (14% abv): 1:1 blend of Sauvignon and Pinot Grigio, matured in 50/50 new/old French barrique. Oak here presents very subtly, and this is an extremely well integrated blend of these two varietals. Vanilla appears only scantly on the nose, with nice floral, citrus, and green apple flavours on the palate, with excellent body and good structure. They say this cuvee ages nicely. 11 Euros

2004 Andritz Rosso (13% abv): 70:30 blend of merlot and cabernet sauvignon). Also barrique aged. Rich vanilla and cherry nose, cherry cola on the palate, and very tannic. Not terribly complex, but will likely be very forgiving in a couple of years time. 12 Euros