The region Friuli Venezia Giulia in Italy borders to the east Slovenia and to the north Austria. This region is known for their white wine and one famous region here is the Collio area which is in the north-east area of Friuli Venezia Giulia and it is quite a hilly area bordering Slovenia. In the photo below the border to Slovenia is about 2km away.

During spring 2019 I visited the producer Gradis´cutta. Gradis'cutta is a producer which have 20 hectares of vineyards in the communes of Gorizia, Capriva del Friuli and Dolegna del Collio. 

The locations of the vineyards are at different elevations and therefore they have many different growing conditions for indigenous grapes, such as Ribolla and Friulano, and international grapes such as Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot. Gradis'cutta produces a multitude of wines, from white to red to sprakling wines.

 

 

In this blogpost I will focus on their white wine Collio Rierva. This wine was produced for the first time in 1999, at their winery, This Collio riserva, is vinified exclusively with the indigenous varieties, Ribolla Gialla, Malvasia and Friulano.  The fermentation is don in large wooden casks (botti) of 10 hectoliters in size. After almost one age of ageing in the bottis itis tranferred to bottle and is aged for at least 15 more months., hence the name riserva.

The vineyards in which these grapes are grown are located in Bukova at Monte Calvario and in the vineyards of Ruttars, a frazione of Dolegna del Collo, at an altitude of 120 to 180 meters (400 to 600 feet) above sea level.

The vinatge is 2015 and the ABV is 13%. A very nice smell of white fruit on the nose.Taste of almosnd, grey pear and some grapefruit and the wine also has a very good body. A long aftertaste in the mouth. A lovely wine that is good as a food wine but also to drink on its won.