Next stop on our wine trip was a small town nearby Alps called Tarcento. Because of the location this region offers quite an interesting wine selection. It’s not just a close distance to the Alps and the sea, but also an area of winemaking influences of the surrounding countries – Slovenia, Austria and Hungary (by the way, the region was actually a part of the Austro–Hungarian empire before the World War I). So the wines here are not quite as specific as, for example, in Umbria. The whites have a tendency to be quite fruity, sometimes mineral, but not as deep as, for example, chablisienne. They are refreshing, pure, not very dominating (well, at least what I’ve tried…) and usually don’t need too many years of aging. For white wines they use here all sorts of grapes: sauvignon, chardonnay and pinots (blanc and gris), less popular malvasia or picolit (for desert wines) and finally local Tocai Friulana, which has not much in common with Hungarian Tokaj... so to avoid confusion since 2007 it’s officially called Friulano Bianco.
After a few acceptable quaffers "by the glass" in a bar we took a bottle of Arbis Blanc 2004 from Borgo San Daniele. Cuveé of Tocai Friulana, chardonnay, sauvignon and pinot bianco. Elegant and structured, everything in the right place. Quoting Sam’s cellartracker opinion: "The wine has quite a scented, open, floral nose with some melony notes. Rich and pure on the palate. It has very good depth and loads of character. Very Good Indeed"
Indeed very good. We paid for it 30 euro, having it in enoteca with some prosciutto, local cheeses and honey. To take away it was 22 euro.
About the red wines from region: lots of merlot, cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon, plus local specialties, for example pignolo, refosco, schioppetino. Because it was really hot our red wine tasting was rather limited. We took our time with a bottle of refosco 2006 from Ronchi di Manzano. Quite heavy, rich structure with barney and animal bits (in direction of animals rather then barney, as Sam said: "almost meaty animalistic fauviness") and in the beginning unfortunately some sulphur, probably caused by the hot temperature. Then it showed more of dark fruits marmalade. Rather spicy wine, but worked well with your standard enoteca food set : ham, cheese and honey. Especially well with parmesan style spicy, hard cheeses. A bottle to take away was 16 euro.
We tried one more bottle from Friuli already at home – Vigne della Rocca 2006 made of Cabernet Franc. It really was a good wine. Amazing mineral, earthy bouquet, with notes of horseradish and green leafs. Tanic but balanced, nutty in finish. Strong but not aggressive taste. Very vivid. 12 euro a bottle. Worth a try. We had it with some mascarpone and truffle pasta.
After a few acceptable quaffers "by the glass" in a bar we took a bottle of Arbis Blanc 2004 from Borgo San Daniele. Cuveé of Tocai Friulana, chardonnay, sauvignon and pinot bianco. Elegant and structured, everything in the right place. Quoting Sam’s cellartracker opinion: "The wine has quite a scented, open, floral nose with some melony notes. Rich and pure on the palate. It has very good depth and loads of character. Very Good Indeed"
Indeed very good. We paid for it 30 euro, having it in enoteca with some prosciutto, local cheeses and honey. To take away it was 22 euro.
About the red wines from region: lots of merlot, cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon, plus local specialties, for example pignolo, refosco, schioppetino. Because it was really hot our red wine tasting was rather limited. We took our time with a bottle of refosco 2006 from Ronchi di Manzano. Quite heavy, rich structure with barney and animal bits (in direction of animals rather then barney, as Sam said: "almost meaty animalistic fauviness") and in the beginning unfortunately some sulphur, probably caused by the hot temperature. Then it showed more of dark fruits marmalade. Rather spicy wine, but worked well with your standard enoteca food set : ham, cheese and honey. Especially well with parmesan style spicy, hard cheeses. A bottle to take away was 16 euro.
We tried one more bottle from Friuli already at home – Vigne della Rocca 2006 made of Cabernet Franc. It really was a good wine. Amazing mineral, earthy bouquet, with notes of horseradish and green leafs. Tanic but balanced, nutty in finish. Strong but not aggressive taste. Very vivid. 12 euro a bottle. Worth a try. We had it with some mascarpone and truffle pasta.
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