By Manos Angelakis
 

Collio is an area in upper Northeastern Italy, part of Friuli Venezia Giulia, which has about 1,700 hectares of vineyards producing white wines. The cultural influences in the area came from the Austro-Hungarian Empire and more recently Slovenia, and less from the rest of Italy. The climate and terroir are both very conducive to winemaking, and local history and traditions support family-run wineries that can produce high-quality wines. What I tasted at a recent event reminded me more of Austrian or Trentino/Alto Adige (Südtyrol) wines than, for example, white wines from Lazio, or the Aeolian Islands in southern Italy.

Collio wines are practically unknown to the general public in the US, even the east coast where many of the Italian immigrants came in the middle 19^th century from the Veneto. They are mostly blends of local white grapes, and each producer creates their own proprietary blend. Once you become familiar with a particular producer’s product, you will be able to recognize the signature of that producer and the terroir he cultivates. Some use only stainless steel vats; others concrete tanks or large oak vats for vinification. Aging is done either in stainless steel or oak barriques. Of the wines I tasted many had no wood tones, while a few showed fresh fruit fragrances and intense minerality.

We tasted 9 wines, each from a different producer. There was at least one with intense Chardonnay aromas, even though the producer said they had no Chardonnay in their vineyards and none in the wine. Another reminded me of a wine made from the Greek varietal Athiri that grows mostly in the cooler vineyards of Northern Greece. One thing that I should stress is that these wines should NOT be drunk too cold – 50º to 54º Fahrenheit is a very good temperature range. At the initial “slosh and spit” tasting, the wines were kept in ice buckets at very low temperature. They tasted closed, without aromas, and very acidic and unbalanced. Only later on, during a vintner’s dinner at Del Posto, one of the better Italian restaurants in Manhattan, where the wines were tasted in flights, with good food, at the proper temperature, we were able to really appreciate their beauty.

Two wines impressed me the most. Zuani “Vigne”, made from Collio Bianco, a local varietal, was definitely food friendly with a distinctive nose of white fruit and a palate with distinct minerality. It had a good balance in the long finish. Sturm’s Andritz Bianco, showed - when tasted with the meal - anise, exotic fruits and vanilla on the nose. Balanced acidity with a long finish. When it was tasted, very cold, in the “slosh and spit” tasting it had no aroma, and my notes indicate “extreme, mouth-numbing acidity”.

Following these two in my liking was Carlo di Pradis (that was the one that when tasted smelled like a Greek varietal), a pure, full bodied, lightly acidic, food friendly wine with great legs and a distinct saltiness on the finish.

The fifth generation is now in charge of the Marco Felluga winery. “Molamatta” the wine they showed, was another one that in the “slosh and spit” showed intense, “mouth puckering” acidity, and a week and grassy nose. Yet, when drunk with food, the acidity practically disappeared and the sweetness of vanilla in the long finish was very evident.

Another wine that did not fare well at the initial tasting but developed into a vanilla and stone fruits powerhouse with the food was “Jelka” from Roberto Picéch’s cellar. The lightly spicy but long dry ending endeared this wine to me as I was drinking it with the creamy, earthy risotto that was the second primo piatto. Even with the first primo, garganelli verdi with a spicy ragu bolognaise, the wine came through fresh and mouth-cleansing.

The other wines were good but not as distinctive as the ones I mentioned above. As the wines become better known, I believe that they will have a very appreciative audience amongst the aficionados of white wines. It takes time for a good wine to become established in this market, but once it is known a good following can be cultivated in time.

Á votre santé.

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