It was really hard to choose my next region to taste. I’ve just begun so almost everything is left, and I can’t wait to try just about everything! Since it's summer (albeit a mild one. A glorious, glorious mild one), I decided I should stick with somewhere known for its white wines. One of the most sipped white wines in warm weather may be Pinot Grigio, so I decided on Italy. Friuli-Venezia Giulia [free-oo-lee ve-ne-tsyah joo-lyah] to be exact.



Though this region didn’t occupy much space on my to-do list, I found a good selection of enticing offerings at K&L and decided to expand my two wines to try (Pinot Grigio and Tocai Friulano) to five. As Myles put it, I’m a sucker for marketing. In my defense, the other wines are all made from indigenous grapes or are otherwise rare. The diversity of new experiences available from Friuli was too attractive. Besides, its not like K&L knows I’m going region by region and targeted me. Right?

Friuli is the very northeastern “ear” of Italy and part of the Tre Venezie (the others are Tentino-Alto Adige and the Veneto) because of the historical relationship the three regions share to the Republic of Venice. With a bit of nostalgia, I can remember the very first vineyards I ever saw in person (likely the Veneto) back in 1997 when I was (NERD ALERT) touring Europe with a band and choir. We did a day trip from Austria to Venice and I remember being just entranced by the rolling vineyards to be seen along much of the drive. I also recall a very grumpy Italian woman yelling at us at a rest stop in violent Italian. Undoubtedly we group of American teenagers did something wrong- I still don’t know what!

Friuli is best known for its white wines, although almost 50% of their wines are red. It's also prosciutto country where both prosciutto di San Daniele and prosciutto di Parma are made. White wines are what makes this region famous, and especially endearing to me since when the rest of the world began to focus on oaking their wines, apparently here in Italy they were focused on acidic, unoaked whites. I’m particularly looking forward to trying the Toaci (toe-ki, rhymes with hi) Friulano, after reading how hard it is to describe!

So, here’s what I picked up for the month:

2008 Blason Pinot Grigio $8.99
2008 Ermacora Friulano $14.99
2008 Blason Franconia $6.99
2008 Ermacora Refosco $19.99
2007 Ermacora Picolit $49.99

Being such a small region, you’ll notice that the five wines hail from just two wineries. And, with the exception of the Picolit, are very inexpensive. Yay for Italian wine bargains!


View Friuli-Venezia Giulia in a larger map