Friuli Venezia Giulia: The New Releases

BY IAN D'AGATA | JANUARY 08, 2020

Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG) offers wine lovers the best of all possible worlds. This northeastern corner of Italy, bordering Slovenia to the east and Austria to the north, is a fantastic place to hunt for world-class whites and sweet wines. But, because of climate change and increased producer knowledge and experience, the reds have improved by leaps and bounds over the years and are now some of Italy’s most interesting, exciting wines.

The Colli Orientali del Friuli’s striking vineyards

It All Starts with the Grape Varieties

A feature that renders FVG absolutely unique in the panorama of Italian wine is that the region successfully grows both native and international grapes, and producers are very adept at making important wines with all of them. This is not true of every Italian region. Forgettable Merlots and Chardonnays (at least by world-class standards) are legion throughout Italy. In fact, the likes of Cabernet Franc, Pinot Grigio (known elsewhere as Pinot Gris), Pinot Bianco (Pinot Blanc), Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot have been grown in significant quantities in FVG for roughly 300 years, and are rightfully considered traditional varieties here (by definition, a traditional grape variety is one that has been cultivated locally for 300 to 500 years). Not so with Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, which are later arrivals to FVG and are true internationals (though many producers, not just from FVG, refer to them as native, as the words “native grapes” help sell nowadays). In any case, it’s very common to walk into an FVG osteria and hear one of the locals ask for a tajut (small glass) of Cabernèt or Merlòt (in Friuli-speak, resolutely accented on the final “e” and “o”), as these varieties have been hanging around the FVG vineyards for centuries. Perhaps not surprisingly, then, FVG boasts some of Italy’s best wines made with traditional/international varieties, especially Pinot Bianco, Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc.