Agriturismo Solder

The region of Friuli-Venezia Guiliana has a tradition of developing Alloggio Agrituristico where visitors can sleep on site, eat on the grounds, and celebrate only that food and view offered by the property itself. Agriturismo Solder is one such facility hosting a range of foods made in the farm house kitchen from the farm’s own ingredients, to eat alongside the wines also made by Solder Vini.

At Agriturismo Solder the benefits of such a facility are compounded by the beautiful countryside view over looking the Solder vineyards, and also the fastidious service by wine maker Fabrizio Solder.

Wine maker and owner Fabrizio Solder

Wines from Solder Vini

Within the DOC Colli Orientali del Friuli region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Solder’s eastern estate rests close to the Slovenian border in the foothills of the Alps. It is on this property that the Solder facility hosts their restaurant of foods all local to their facility. The foods include meats and cheeses made on site, and a host of warm plates ranging from bitter sauteed greens, to gnocchi in duck breast, and rich pasta wrapped in prosciutto. Better still, the wines and food are meant to pair. We let Fabrizio select both our foods and wines for us.

Solder Friulano 2010

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The Friulano grape is famous for its quality found in the Friuli area. In this region the wine showcases a crisp, floral nose, developing nutty and herbal qualities in the bottle over time. It is considered local to the area, and is one of the more well known white wine products of the larger Friuli region.

Solder Vini offers a dry, full bodied version of Friulano consistently showing bright acidity that holds up to the rich meats offered on site. The 2010 bottling is drinking lively now with citrus notes of lime zest, and meyer lemon zest, pith and juice alongside faint hints of melon as the wine opens, white pepper, and dried herbs. The finish here is pleasantly elongated, again doing well with food.

Solder Cabernet 2010

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In the Friuli area asking for a “Cabernet” means asking for a red wine that is most likely either a full varietal of Cabernet Franc, or a blend of the same grape with Cabernet Sauvignon. Here the later held true. The wine showed bright red fruit on the nose that opened to carry more of the grounded earth elements of Cabernet Franc with time. There were light yeast touches here as well, alongside dried herbal qualities, and mouth gripping tannin. The 2010 is drinking well for food now, and will also clearly deepen over time.

Solder D’Oro

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While Colli Orientali del Friuli has more recently begun to grow international varieties, the DOC celebrates its indigenous grapes with commitment. Solder’s D’Oro presents a dry, honeyed rich wine made of two local varieties–Picolit and Verduzzo.

While it can be common to see Picolit produced as a typically sweet dessert wine, either through late harvest or drying the grapes after selection, Solder has chosen to switch up their approach to cultivate a drier rendition of the wine. To do so, the winery picks a portion of their Picolit batch at ripeness, and then also selects another collection of grapes to dry. However, instead of picking the clusters and drying them in the sun or a drying room, Solder instead ties off the stem as the cluster still hangs on the vine, essentially putting a turnequet on the plant. In doing so he dramatically reduces the nutrients available to the fruit, while retaining the grounding of the plant and the air flow of the vineyard. The fruit then goes through a slightly accelerated drying process without developing a late harvest style noble rot. The juice from the ripe fruit pressing, and that from the vine-dried fruit are then blended to create the proper balance.

The D’Oro (I apologize–I missed writing down both the alcohol level and the vintage) we tasted carried both ripened peach and pear with touches of almond and obvious honey notes, all showing alongside hints of wet tobacco. Together these notes offered a rich, honeyed wine, but with an intense tannin mouth-drying texture that created a surprising grip to balance the rich body. I thought the D’Oro was both tasty and interesting. It also paired well with the traditional Friulian fig and pastry cookies we closed the meal with.

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Thank you so much to Fabrizio Solder for hosting us this afternoon!

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