Ronco del Gnemiz Schioppettino
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More on Schioppettino later
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A Day Enriches My Capacity for Joy: Photos from Ronco del Gnemiz
Cristian Patat, Stuart George, Serena Plazzalo
Ronco del Gnemiz Chardonnay Sol 2006
Stuart George
Chardonnay Manzano 2006, Chardonnay Sol 2006, Chardonnay San Zuan 2006
Vineyard cat with Schioppettino Vertical
Schioppettino Vertical 1988, 1989, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2006, 2009, 2010
Thank you so much to Serena Plazzolo, and Cristian Patat for hosting us in their lovely home.
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Later: Comics of Schioppettino Vertical Tasting
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Opening Hearts for i Clivi: Hearing of the History and the Practice
Ferdinando Zanusso of i Clivi
“I was born in a vineyard. At a certain point my father was making wine but I did not follow him. I was working for a French company. I went to Africa. At the time of the big Swahili drought of the 70’s/80’s. Then I left. I came home to lose all my money. Then I accepted a job with the United Nations. I went to many nice countries. The Sudan, and Somalia. I was in Somali when the restoration of 1980. It was quite an experience.
“By then I had bought a house with a vineyard behind near here. That is how I found out, in fact, if you do a small amount it still takes all your time, so we took over this place, and that is how it went.
We ask what wines he likes to drink besides his own: “I like Burgundies, a lot of Northern Rhone, and the German whites. I also like the wines of the Loire. Some of them. I spent twenty years with the French so I had opportunities to taste all of them. You have to drink it when it is at its best. It is not easy. In fact, it is very difficult.
In hearing his answer we ask if he thinks his wines are like any of those he has listed: “In making wine, my goal is not to copy, but to get the best out of what we have, this soil, this climate. We can learn a lot from the Burdundian’s hundreds of years of history. We have also some, but more there. So, we have a lot to learn from the French, but it would be, in my opinion, a mistake to copy them. To compare white here to white there. Their problem is the climate. One or two years in 10 years is good. One main problem for them is acidity. They have to try and reduce it. Here, it is the opposite.
“The problem is completely different. Here we have more regular years but we have problems that are completely different than the French. For example, oak for them, it is a historical accident, but it is a way of giving them structure on off years. Here it is not only useless, it is counterproductive to add wood to wine that has everything in itself. Also, to macerate is a mistake. It adds elements of rusticity and elements that are on this table that interfere with the elements of the wine. Here, the complexity of white wine is reduced by oak or by maceration because then you put sort of a screen between you and the true character of the wine. To do these things introduces an element that is common, that interferes with the presentation of the particular character of the wine, of the terroir. We have here, and also elsewhere a vineyard, and they have completely different characters.
“So, we have a lot to learn from the French, but we cannot follow them. We have completely different situations.”
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Colli Orientali del Friuli Sauvignon: Considering the Variety’s Local Typicity
Colli Orientali del Friuli Sauvignon Characteristics Card
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One of the projects of the Colli Orientali del Friuli is to recognize and celebrate the unique typicity of not only its indigenous grapes, but also the long established international varieties. Because of the diversely mixed political history of the region, the area has celebrated the introduction of grapes known more famously in other grape parts of the world. Unfortunately, in many cases the introduction of new grape types has also accompanied the loss of indigenous ones. Friuli has a deep commitment to cultivating the grapes peculiar to the area–Ribolla Gialla, Malvasia, Schioppettino, Refosco, to name a few–but also has a dedication to developing and understanding those international varieties with their own long standing local tradition, and the continued potential for strong relationship with the local terroir.
With such a commitment in mind, the Consortium of Wine Makers in Colli Orientali del Friuli has sought to understand the uniqueness of Sauvignon in the region–the grape elsewhere known by its longer name, Sauvignon Blanc. Having now tasted tens of varietals, as well as Sauvignon-based blends from this DOC, it is clear the grape produces a distinctive profile here.
Part of the influence on the grape’s style in this region finds its roots in the unique soil itself–a distinct marl of clay and lime formed as the result of the Eocenic seabed that once filled these valleys and covered these hills. Other influences grow out of the unique climate developed by the wind influence of air lifting from the Adriatic towards the Alps. Further, the commitment of the people themselves establishes the flavor and structural profile of the grape here.
The characteristics shown in the Sauvignon card are those named for the Colli Orientali in their description of the DOC’s typicity for the variety. They are consistent with a common expression shown alongside producer variations for the Sauvignon’s we have tasted on this trip.
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To read more about our tour through the Colli Orientali check out our group’s conglomerate blog here: http://cof2012.com/
Thank you again to the Colli Orientali del Friuli for organizing a spectacular range of visits throughout their beautiful region! Thank you too, again, to Jeremy for including me!
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Welcome in the Hands of Friuli: Meeting Friulian Cultural Expert Dino Persello
Dino Persello and Jeremy Parzen
Dino Persello studies tradition, history, and language of Friuli and is a specialist in accent and dialect of the region. He spoke to us tonight about what it means to be Friulian.
“First I want to tell you, “Mandi!” That is, “I put you in the hands of God. I let you go in the hands of God.” It is important to know where you are and most important to know in whose hands you are in. Here you are in the hands of the Friulians.
“Now, I want to tell you the facts of the Friulian people. We are jealous. We have a border problem. The first thing we want to realize is to build a home. In Italy and in Europe, we are the people who mostly own our home. It is very important for us to own our own properties. We have a problem with hosting others. But, once we know the people we are hosting, we are happy to have them here.
“There is a saying in the Friulian language that means not to blow up the bubble. Stay down to Earth. It is such a shame we do not blow in the right way the bubble. Because the bubble is not full of nothing. In the bubble you can find our products–we believe in something important. And this is the reason why the Consortium and the Associazione Produttori Schioppettino invited you. To teach us how to blow the bubble in the right way. So, the idea of the Consortium is extremely smart. They invite experts like you [the wine and food bloggers] to help inform us and to involve other people.
“But one of the things we are proud of, for example, is that most people here [in Friuli] are involved with volunteering, with helping and involving with other people. There was a big earthquake in 1976. After an association of volunteers, the Protezione Civile, was formed. It now helps after every nature disaster for free all over Italy, and it started here in the region.
“Two other things we are very proud of, considering how many people live in this region, is that most are donating blood and organs. We have the most people donate per capita of any region. It is the ultimate spirit of giving and wanting to help people. Also, donating stem cells for research, it is the highest level per capita, especially considering we started to donate in this region one year after it started anywhere.
“One of the things we are proud of is our own language. It is not Italian. Every village has its own dialect. The language I am speaking started here.
“Thanks to my daughter, I met another brother across the ocean, across language, and today we became friends on Facebook. Mandi, my friend, Jeremy. “I’ll see you later.” … Jeremy knows a lot about our history, culture, heritage …the important heritage, history of the people of the region. There is a poem by Paolo Pasolini that is about the difference between rhymes of languages, meaning each language is important. What is important is to keep speaking the language our mothers taught us.
“Last thing we are extremely proud of–we are very loyal. We do not betray you. Today, being loyal is like winning the Nobel Prize for Existence.
“The bubble we ask you to help us blow we are sure you will help us blow with colors and fashion.”
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J.C. Reid was able to record a complete video of Dino Persello’s speech. I look forward to seeing it. Dino has inspiring charisma that is felt powerfully in person, and no doubt on video too.
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Thank you to Lara Persello for translating from Friulian to English her father, Dino Persello’s speech.
So honored to be here witness to the incredible people of Friuli. Thank you to Dino for his discussion of Friulian culture, to the Consortium Colli Orientali del Friuli, and to the Associazione Produttori Schioppettino di Prepotto for hosting a wonderful event and tasting of the Schioppettinos of Prepotto.
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Meeting Bastianich, Colli Orientali del Friuli, Italy: Plus 2008, Calabrone 2007
Originally from the area where Italy intersects the Balkan states, the Bastianich family decided to return to its roots by purchasing land to make wines expressive of the region. The result of the project has been three varietals each indigenous to the homes in which they are grown and made–the Adriatico portfolio. With it you discover Malvasia from Istria, Ribolla Gially from Slovenia, and Friulano from Friuli.
The Bastianich portfolio is broader, however, than just these three wines. Within Colli Orientali del Friuli, for example, the Bastianich family also grows grapes known not only as native to the area but also those they find as most expressive of their terroir. That is, they seek to grow only those grapes that do best on their land.
In talking with wine people from the Friuli region there is a common refrain. Lydia Bastianich, with her grounding in U.S. restaurant and food culture, is an ambassador for Friuli. That is, she has built a bridge between the already established quality of Friulian wines, and the wine market of the United States. In talking with Lydia herself she concentrates on the roots of the region–what makes the area and also Italy at large unique. In both cases, the answer is the same. Italy, according to Lydia is an area of great diversity developed by the regionality and individuality of Italians. As she puts it, Italians from whatever region “focus first on family; then, if they feel like it, on their neighbors, and only then on city and then region.” That focus on home base that Italians have, as she describes it, helps to establish unique commitment in an area, out of which arises a mix of rich expressivity, and creativity.
Yesterday we shared lunch at the Bastianich home, with Lydia coordinating an impressive menu. After we were able to taste through their Adriatico line, and their regional portfolio. Following are two of the Bastianich wines that stood out in the collection.
Bastianich Plus 2008
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The Bastianich Plus is the family’s attempt to make a “super”-Friulano. They had tasted a range of well made but common versions of the indigeous-to-Friuli variety and decided it was time to do a focused and concentrated version of the event. The wine is made from 60-70 year old vines of the variety, all hand selected, with 10% of the clusters hung and dried for a month to add concentrated fruit elements. The result is a richer body and texture, with more grounded expression of the grape, showing an interesting presentation of its flavor profile.
The nose carries spice of citrus zest and touches of baking spices with minerals and almond. On the palate, the rich texture shows a subtle and grounded range of lime notes, with subtle touches of honey, baking spice, and nut.
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The Calabrone is an expression of the Bastianich love for Amarone style wines. It is made only in the best vintages, with so far 6 of the 12 vintages being made Calabrone. The 2007 blend carries a Refosco focus with half of those grapes being hung and dried before pressing. The remaining blend arises from 10% all dried Schioppettino, 10% Merlot, and 10% Pignollo.
The nose and palate of this wine give a nice balance of concentrated elements with lighter notes keeping the wine from being either heavy or cloying. There are touches of earth, hints of leather and mushroom, and hits of lavendar all alongside a body of raisin, date, fig, and dried red cherry.
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Lunch at Ronchi di Cialla: Meeting the Man with whom it Began
Paolo Rapuzzi, the founder and owner of Ronchi di Cialla
“The story of the winery is very simple. I am Friulian. So, when it came time to plant, we planted the grapes of the region. The ancient varieties.
“I had been working for a very big company. But we [he and his wife] spoke. We asked, should we die as typewriter sales people? Should we live in a system we don’t like? We didn’t like having someone bossing us around. The only person that can work without a boss is a farmer. So, on January 30, 1970 we started. They talked us into buying this land.
“I am not a farmer by history of profession, and we had no land. We began looking. They talked us into buying this land. It had been abandoned for 25 years, since the end of World War II. This is only 2 kilometers from the [Slovenian] border, so life in this area was very hard during the war. When it was over the family packed up and left. The house and vineyard had been abandoned for 25 years. Inside the house was grass waist deep and badgers were living in it. But we liked it a lot because there were olive trees here. Even it was abandoned we knew it was the right place to begin our new life.
“My two sons had been born already. Luckily they decided to follow my footsteps. They handle the estate now and studied farming at university and handle both the grape growing and wine making.
“When I started I had no experience. So, I had no preconceived notions in what I was doing. That is what most helped me do what I ended up doing [on the farm and with wine making]. I never studied wine making and have never had an oenologist. We wanted to make wine from here, from Cialla. Some do not agree, but the grape already has everything it needs to make wine. So, the less we try to force grapes, the more its product represents wine from the area. We are meticulously involved in the entire process from growing to wine but it is very much about what we do not do than what we do. Nature has everything it needs to make wine.
“We planted in 1970. From the beginning it has been indigenous grape varieties, native yeast, no chemical farming, low intervention wine making.”
Paolo and Dina’s son Ivan adds a comment: “We make truly long lived wines. All of our wines–the whites, the reds, the sweet wines–all of them age very well. That is an indication that it is from the zone. It is the land itself that makes these wines.”
Paolo continues: “When phylloxera came the farmers made a mistake. Not everyone agrees with me. They began planting foreign grape varieties. We lost over 150 indigenous grape varieties. It is an indication of how viticulture changes. Today we are getting it back. More people are dedicated to the indigenous varieties.”
Ivan comments: “Friuli is one of the places in Europe with the greatest bio-diversity. It is the intersection of the Alps, the Adriatic from the Mediterranean, and the Balkans. The Northern and Eastern Alps too come together here so you are at a real crux of the Mediterranean, with the Northern and Eastern Alps.”
Later Paolo tells a story: “In the beginning we were infested with red spiders. It was a problem. We went to a phyto-pathologist for advice. He told us, don’t do anything. If you leave the spiders another type of spider will come along and compete. So, we left the red spiders. It was a big risk. But yellow spiders came and killed the red spiders. When you use pesticides you do not just kill what you are targeting. You kill everything. But nature will balance itself if you do not do this.”
Outside Ivan walks us through the vineyards and tells us more about their low intervention views. “In Cialla, proximity to Forest is the most important. The same predators that attack vitis vinifera [grape vines] attack other species in the forest. But in the forest they have natural enemies. Nature keeps a balance. So, in being close to the forest we do not have to intervene because the same balance that is in the forest is maintained in the vineyard too.”
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Thank you to Jeremy Parzan for translating Paolo’s story to us as he spoke
Later: Comics of Vertical Tastings at Ronchi di Cialla
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Lunch and Wine Tasting at Agriturismo Solder: Friulano, Cabernet, and D’Oro
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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Sounding the Alarm! We’ve arrived in Colli Orientali del Friuli.
Perhaps the single most important thing to remember when you arrive in Gramogliano, the village you’ll be staying at in Friuli because the Corno di Rosazzo Agriturismo is too lovely not to, is that, if you did just fly all the way from the Western side of the United States, you’ll be tired. Your host will be wonderful, and your room will be better than you’d imagined, but, still you’ll be tired. So, when it comes time to rinse off and refresh in the shower before beginning the week’s activities, keep this in mind.
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Cause, here’s the thing. When you get into the shower after the water has gotten warm enough, and you haven’t slept for over 24 hours, and you’ve been sitting off and on in that same period for 20, suddenly in the warmth of the water a red handle will call out to you. You’ll smartly see it is dangling there at the end of a long cord, and your eyes will follow that cord up to an attachment in the wall that shows the cord is some kind of switch. That is, when you pull the cord, it DOES something. But in your fatigue you won’t be sure WHAT IT DOES and so you’ll pull the red toggle handle. You’ll grasp that red toggle handle tenderly in your palm, wrap your fingers around it and then pull down. Then, when nothing happens, you’ll pull more. Then, when STILL nothing happens you’ll pull again, and then again, standing there in the steam and relaxing heat of the warm water, so relaxed, just pulling down steadily on the cord. Eventually you’ll be tired enough that your absent minded attention on the red toggle handle and the attached cord will fade, and you’ll slip out of the shower and into the king size bed. And you’ll sleep as if you’re dead it is so deep.
Then.
In the midst of the death sleep.
There will be banging. Heavy banging on your door. Panicked steady banging. Banging that will not go away though you try to dream it off again.
It will turn out in your comforting relationship with that red toggle handle you will have been pulling steadily on the “I died in the shower and you cannot revive me but please god you will try cause I am a wine blogger” emergency alarm.
So, again, just remember: you are tired.
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Thanks so much to Alfonso Cevola for connecting me with Jeremy Parzen for this trip, and for Jeremy for first inviting me, and now putting up with me on it. I really will try not to get so enticed by that lovely red toggle handle again this week.
To keep up with the group blog writing about our adventures through Colli Orientali del Friuli check it out here: http://cof2012.com/
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#cof2012 in the news
We arrived to discover we’ve been featured in the local paper, twice! This photo image by Do Bianchi shows the precisely focused article in Friuli’s Economic news. We’ve been talked about on a few local blogs as well. Turns out wine bloggers in Friuli is hot local news!
