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With almost 2,000 hectares of vineyards, the Colli Orientali in the eastern part of the province of Udine are the second largest appellation in Friuli. Adriano Gigante: "The Collio and the Colli Orientali were originally one contiguous hill area. For political reasons they were then separated, the Colli Orientali today belong to the province of Udine, the Collio to the province of Gorizia. However, the climatic conditions as well as the soils are so similar that a single appellation would actually have made more sense for them as a wine region."

Both wine-growing areas are dominated by flysch soils consisting of clay and sand layers, which are called "ponca" here and have a grey or yellowish shimmer. The ponca is rich in minerals but poor in nutrients. Its water storage capacity is the reason why irrigation is virtually unnecessary in the hills.

In the hills, the vines are rooted in Ponca soils. (Source: Merum)

The Colli Orientali is the only appellation that is better known for its red wines than for its white wines. It is also home to the autochthonous grape variety Schioppettino, which is particularly close to the hearts of the winemakers from the small village of Prepotto on the Slovenian border.

Paolo Petrussa is one of those who identify with the Schioppettino. During our visit, we could sense his great enthusiasm: "The grape variety was threatened with extinction. That is why the winegrowers from Prepotto founded an association to protect it in 2002. The first step was a production discipline that we imposed on ourselves. In 2008, the Ministry of Agriculture finally approved the Prepotto Geographical Indication for us as a subzone. The vintners' striving for quality here in the village has increased enormously in the last ten years. They themselves are beginning to rediscover Schioppettino. But we are only at the beginning. Schioppettino has a very specific character, it is spicy and aromatic, not easy to handle. But it can be very elegant if handled properly."

Collio Bianco, excellence in randomness

Adjacent to the south-western border of the Colli Orientali is the famous Collio appellation. It is located in the hilly areas of the province of Gorizia and runs for a large part along the Italian-Slovenian border. The most renowned wineries of the region are at home here: winegrowers such as Jermann, Venica & Venica, Villa Russiz, Schiopetto, Gravner and others.

The Schiopetto winery processes fewer grape varieties today than it did ten years ago. (Source: Merum)

The most interesting wine of the region is the Collio Bianco, a cuvée whose composition is freely decided by the winegrowers. The generously formulated production rules for the wine allow the use of all twelve grape varieties permitted here. Combinations and proportions are not subject to any regulations; only the particularly aromatic Sauvignon and Traminer are limited to 15 percent.

However, more than three different grape varieties are rarely used in the blends, which are composed differently by each producer. The basis of many wines is Friulano, which is responsible for their structure and sustainability; aroma-giving complementaries are most often Sauvignon, Chardonnay or Malvasia.

Although the production discipline dates back to 1968, it was only used by a handful of winegrowers until the early 1990s. In order to convince as many winemakers as possible of the project of a cuvée that would characterise the hills of the Collio, the choice of varieties was initially kept very generous. Later, it was intended to limit it little by little, but this never came to pass. After some winemakers had already made a name for themselves with their individual cuvée, it was too late to take this step. A binding commitment to a few varieties right from the start would have been the right strategy. But in this way, the great opportunity for a wine of origin with an unmistakable profile was missed.

In addition to a Bianco, the Collio winegrowers offer a similarly large selection of varietal wines as their colleagues in the other growing regions. Edi Keber in Cormòns is an exception. He was aware early on of the problems inherent in wines with varietal designations. How could these wines be used to communicate a region of origin in a meaningful way? After all, the names of grape varieties are not protected; any winegrower in the world can write them on the bottle label.

Cormòns lies in the middle of vineyards. (Source: Merum)

At the end of the 1980s, Keber therefore began to gradually tighten up his range of wines, gradually offering fewer wines, although he lost some of his clientele as a result. Since 2008, he has only produced one white wine, simply called Collio, without the addition of bianco.

Mario Schiopetto's children, who run the winery today, have also understood that concentrating on a few labels is the right strategy. They have also greatly reduced their range from what used to be 17 wines. Carlo Schiopetto: "About ten years ago, we started to reduce our range and to do without some grape varieties altogether. We now only have Friulano, Pinot Bianco, Sauvignon and Pinot Grigio as single-varietal wines, plus two white and two red cuvées."

Part I of the report: "Small land of a thousand wines".

Part II of the report: "The Grave: Soy, Maize and... Wine"

Part III of the report: "Is Friulano the future?

Part V of the report: "Ribolla Gialla is booming".

Part VI of the report: "Barren coastal landscape".

All producers from Friuli in the wine guide

To the magazine article "White treasures

To the "BEST OF Friuli white" (PDF document)

This article was made available to us by the Merum editorial team. Find out more about Merum, the magazine for wine and olive oil from Italy, here:
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