Winemaker Notes
Vintage Tunina from Sauvignon grapes, Chardonnay with Ribolla Gialla, Malvasia
and a percentage of a local sweet wine. It should be noted that this is a genuine field blend. It has a brilliant straw-yellow color with golden highlights. Its aroma is intense, full, with enormous elegance and persistence, and with hints of honey and wild flowers. Its taste is dry, velvety, and very well-orchestrated, with an exceptional persistence due to its particularly full body.
It is paired with truffled first courses, with a great variety of fish dishes, especially oven-baked fish and fish in sauce, and it can easily be drunk with white meats. We have a particularly good memory of this wine with a pillow of fresh salmon stuffed with parmesan and artichoke.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Such beautiful aromas of sliced pears, green apples, white peaches and lychee fruit. Full-bodied and very reserved, but the complexity and beauty here are so apparent. Give this wine time to show the complexity and allure. One of the great whites of Italy, as always.
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Wine Enthusiast
One of Italy’s most lauded whites, this has delicate scents recalling elder flower, citrus and crushed botanical herbs. Made from a field blend of Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Ribolla Gialla and Malvasia, the rounded, enveloping palate delivers creamy white peach, juicy grapefruit, apple and honeyed notes before a white almond close.
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Wine Spectator
Delicate spice and mineral accents wind through this graceful white, which layers flavors of kiwi fruit, lemon meringue pie and grated ginger with a mouthwatering frame of acidity. Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Ribolla Gialla, Malvasia Istriana and Picolit. Drink now through 2025.
With hundreds of white grape varieties to choose from, winemakers have the freedom to create a virtually endless assortment of blended white wines. In many European regions, strict laws are in place determining the set of varieties that may be used in white wine blends, but in the New World, experimentation is permitted and encouraged. Blending can be utilized to enhance balance or create complexity, lending different layers of flavors and aromas. For example, a variety that creates a soft and full-bodied white wine blend, like Chardonnay, would do well combined with one that is more fragrant and naturally high in acidity. Sometimes small amounts of a particular variety are added to boost color or aromatics. Blending can take place before or after fermentation, with the latter, more popular option giving more control to the winemaker over the final qualities of the wine.
The source of some of Italy’s best and most distinctive white wines, Friuli-Venezia Giulia is where Italian, Germanic and Slavic cultures converge. The styles of wines produced in this region of Italy's far north-east reflect this merging of cultures. Often shortened to just “Friuli,” the area is divided into many distinct subzones, including Friuli Grave, Colli Orientali del Friuli, Collio Goriziano and Carso. The flat valley of Friuli Grave is responsible for a large proportion of the region’s wine production, particularly the approachable Pinot grigio and the popular Prosecco. The best vineyard locations are often on hillsides, as in Colli Orientali del Friuli or Collio. In general, Friuli boasts an ideal climate for viticulture, with warm sunny days and chilly nights, which allow grapes to ripen slowly and evenly.
In Colli Orientali, the specialty is crisp, flavorful white wine made from indigenous varieities like Friulano (formerly known as Tocai Friulano), Ribolla gialla and Malvasia Istriana.
Red wines, though far less common here, can be quite good, especially when made from the deeply colored, rustic Refosco variety. In Collio Goriziano, which abutts Slovenia, many of the same varieties are planted. International varieties like Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc are also common, but they tend to be Loire-like in style with herbaceous character and mellow tannins. Carso’s star grape is the red Teranno, notable for being rich in iron content and historically consumed for health purposes. It has an earthy, meaty profile and is often confused with the distinct variety Refosco.