Monday (7/18) A Friulian Fest in the NapaVlly
I've long had an interest in Friulian wines since way back in the '70's when DarrellCorti introduced me
to their pleasures. The whites are bright/zippy/drinkable w/ a nice minerality to them that makes them quite
interesting. I particularly like their reds, mostly Schioppetino, Refosco (dal PeduncoloRosso and other Refoschi),
and Tazzalenghe ("tounge-ripper" in Friulian dialect). I was very excited to discover the wines up in Colorado
of EmilioBulfon, a guy who specializes in reviving Friulian indigenous varieties (www.bulfon.it/eng/vini.html).
I'm still a fence-sitter on the wines from there made with skin-contact and, especially, those made in an
oxidative style, often in amphorae from Georgia, like Radikon & Gravner. And the huge surge in quality in the
Slovenian wines across the border has been exciting to watch. So...not exactly "from the very start"...but
close enoughfor guvmint work.
In the last several yrs, there has been a surge of interest (well...not really a tsunami...but a quiet
undercurrent) in Friulian varietals in Calif. Maybe it's not going to be the next Merlot-craze, but there's
a niche there that some folks are moving into. Mostly, this movement has been led by GeorgeVare, one of the
founding partners, with JohnKongsgaard, of LunaWnry. Looking for an alternative to PinotGrigio, his visit to
Friuli inflamed his passions for Friulian varieties, particularly RibollaGialla. He planted his 10-acre
vnyd to that variety and launched the movement. Interestingly, he decided to share his crop with other "worthy"
wine producers who were interested in Ribolla, to see what they could do w/ the variety. Hmmm....he could have
kept the entire crop himself, gone on to produce Calif's only Ribolla, sold it for $200/btl, and become the
next BillGates....possibly. But George is the real sparkplug and inspiration to this Friulian movement in Calif.
Another event contributed to this groundswell. For many yrs, Calif has had a variety called SauvignonVert,
which was known to produce rather dull and uninteresting wines. However, recent DNA work has shown that (much of)
Calif's SauvVert is none other than TocaiFriuliano (also known as Sauvignonasse and, now, just Friuliano). To
compound the problem, some of Calif's SauvVert is not Friuliano, but Muscadelle de Bourdelais. Further mucking
up the situation, the TTB folks who approve varietal names have no clue. But...bottom line... there are a bunch
of old vnyds of SauvVert in Calif who can now produce a wine that has a name w/ a bit of a cachet to it.
I had tried GeorgeVare's first Ribolla several yrs ago and liked it quite a bit. At the end of last year,
JonBonne write a SFChron article on five Calif winemakers to watch. One was DanPetroski/Massican. Hmmmmm...
Friulian varietals...that's interesting. So, afore March's RhoneRangers, I made an appt to visit Dan up at
LarkmeadWnry, where he's the winemaker. I was quite taken by Dan's wines. Dan also dropped a few names that
might interest me....MatthiassonFamilyWnry and ArbeGarbe (Enrico & Letizia). I contacted them, got some of
their wines, and also liked what I tasted. Hmmmmm... something serious is going on here in Calif w/ Friulian
varietals.
Several months ago, when our NAP#2 get-together fell thru, I suggested to Jill Klein Matthiasson that
DarrellCorti had planned to be in NapaVlly for that event and maybe the Friulian folks would like to take
advantage of his presence. Jill jumped at the opportunity, agreed to she & Steve hosting a get-together
tasting of Ribolla and other Friulian varietials, and including a pot-luck dinner afterwards. So Jill starts
the ball rolling by inviting some of the Ribolla makers and really gets the credit for making it all happen.
Some of the attendees were:
Steve/Jill Klein Matthiasson: MatthiassonFamilyWnry
Darrell Corti: Corti Bros grocers
George Vare: Vare Wine
Dan/Jessica Petroski: Massican Wines
Michael/Eileen Chiarello: Bottega/Chiarello Wines
Ryan/Megan Glaab: Ryme Cllrs
Michael Gyetvan: Pizzeria Azzurro
Sur Lucero: Somm at Oenotri
Duncan Meyers: Arnot-Roberts
Robbie Meyer: winemaker for Vare and Grassi Cllrs
Matthew Plympton/Elizabeth: Revel Wines/distributor for Matthiasson Wines
Abe Schoener: Scholium Project wines
Enrico Bertoz & Letizia Pauletto: ArbeGarbe Wines
Matthew Rorick: Forlorn Hope Wnry
JaRue Manning: UC/Davis
Kelly MacLeod: vnyd manager at HudsonVnyds
Patrick Sullivan: Rudd Wines
Rob/Kat McDonald: The Girls in the Vnyds
Tom Hill
there were others in the cast of characters but, alas, didn't get all their names. JaRue (Jim) Manning is an
interesting person. At lunch the previous Wed at Dopo w/ OliverMcCrum, I described our upcoming Monday event.
He mentioned JaRue's name as someone I should get to know because of his great interest in Italian varieties
in Calif and plans to write a book on the subject. So Oliver immediately texted him about our event, Jill
issued an invite, and he rides over from Davis w/ Darrell. Alas, I didn't get a whole lot of time to visit
w/ JaRue at the event, but we have a lot of common interests and that will be remedied in the future.
A few of the other characters: MatthewRorick owns ForlornHope wines in Napa. His named appeared on Jill's
list of invitees. Never heard of the wnry, but took a look-see at their WebSite (www.forlornhopewines.com).
Holy cow....there's a whole bunch of really interesting stuff they make. So order up a mixed case to try, but
not yet tried them. KellyMacLeod: vnyd manager for Lee Hudson's vnyd. They are looking to plant another block
of interesting varieties (including Ribolla) there in Lee's vnyd and she was scouting out the wines. SurLucero:
Oenotri provided the goat that SteveMatthiasson roasted. It's a restaurant I've heard a lot of good things about,
but have not yet had a chance to try there in Napa. Sur is the Somm for Oenotri and the wine list looks very well
put together. Originally, the list was going to be entirely Italian based. But, after tasting the Matthiasson
wines, Sur felt it was so good that he had to be on the list. RyanGlaab: Is the asst winemaker for PaxMahle/WindGap
wher he makes his Ryme wines. Some very interesting wines in his portfolio (rymecellars.com).
The event starts at 5:00pm, but it takes almost an hour for the full crowd to drift in. Weather is beautiful
and we meet in the Matthiasson's back yard....the goat roasting over the open fire in the distance. The Matthiasson's
home vnyd is surrounding the house. It contains both Ribolla and probably the only true planting of Refosco dal
PeduncoloRosso in the USofA. GeorgeVare shows up w/ two sparkling wines, that he disgorges right there on the spot:
Vare Sparkling RibollaGialla
Vare Sparkling (50% RibollaGialla/Chardonnay)
The RG had a more interesting somewhat earthy character, the blend was rather more refinied and both quite nice
sparkling wines w/ a good bead.
After about an hour of self-introductions and milling about, we adjourned to the side yard to begin the serious
tasting of the Ribollas. Each winemaker got up, presented his wines, described how it was made, and took questions.
It was an incredible level of energy and information exchange. Alas, thinks were going at such a rapid pace that
I was unable to take more than a few sketchy notes. The wines poured:
Vare RibollaGialla 2009: 1 yr in barrel/1 yr in btl/several hrs of skin contact
Vare RibollaGialla 2010: Very pretty quite perfumed/fragrant nose w/ touch of pungent/mineral
Massican Annia (12.1%; 40% TokaiFriuliano/33% RibollaGiallo/28% Chard) 2010: Quite lean/crisp/tart bit steely/
mineral
Massican Passito SauvBlanc (+15% RibollaGialla) 2010
Grassi RibollaGialla 2010: Quite earthy/minerally
Matthiasson WW 2010: very attractive floral bit herbal crisp/tangy white
Matthiasson RibollaGialla 2010: fermented on skins; very floral/perfumed/aromatic slight herbal/hay mow nose
ArbeGarbe WW (Malvasia/RibollaGialla/PinotGrigio) 2010: Very strong Malvasia/fragrant/floral very perfumey nose
Chiara Bianca 100% RibollaGialla ThomasBrown/winemaker 2010: Michael Chiarello wine for restaurant sale only;
10 days skin contact; rather cloudy (unfiltered); lovely bit herbal fragrance; bit of a tannic bite.
Arnot-Roberts RibollaGialla 2010: rather haymow/pungent/perfumed/resiny nose; pretty tannic on the palate
Forlorn Hope RibollaGialla 2010: Very fragrant perfumed/aromatic; soft round lush on palate; most Calif in style.
Ryme RibollaGialla 2009: 4 month skin contact; dark yellow color; incredible/exotic orange peel/mango/floral nose;
very unusual quite exotic wine w/ no oxidative notes.
There was not a clunker in the bunch. But the wines showed an incredible range in style. Not sure I can put my
finger on the varietal character of Ribolla, though. During the questions, a number of things came out:
1. Darrell pointed out that, after Furmint, Ribolla is the most tannic of the white grapes.
2. Economics: I addressed this question to GeorgeVare. Most of the Friulian whites (non-Gravner/Radikon paradigm) sell
in the $20 price range or below. The NapaVlly is a pretty high-rent district. How the heck are they going to make
a Ribolla in the NapaVlly and compete on the price?? Several winemakers responded. They cited the prices people
like Radikon/Gravner receive; but I pointed out that extreme style was not the style they were embracing. There
was some acknowledgment that the pricing could be an issue. The conclusion seemed to be that they have to make
a wine that was superior to ordinary Friulian whites and thus the price could be gotten. Perhaps so. The Calif
versions I've been trying have been in the $25-$35 price range and I have felt that the quality is probably there
to sustain those prices. The marketplace has its way of deciding those things.
3. Skin contact/orange wines: I think it was of Duncan that I posed this question. I was curious as to the point have
having prolonged skin contact in a white wine, and the attendent tannic bitterness it brings to these wines. I've
found some of these prolonged skin contact whites to be unpleasantly bitter on the palate. A recent Pheasant'sTears
Rikatsatelli was so bitter to be almost undrinkable. Darrell asserted that that variety was not a good one for skin
contact and in an oxidative style. Darrell also suggested there was not much interest by US consumers for these
orange wines made in an oxidative style; to which I would concur. There seemed to be no clear/definitive
conclusions on this style of wine. There appeared to not be much interest (at least at this point in time) of going
to the extreme style of Gravner & Radikon. Darrell had some interesting stories to tell of JoskoGravner and his
evolution to his current winemaking style. Clearly, Ryan/Ryme is the most passionate adherent to this style of
winemaking. Alas, this time I hadn't much time to pursue it with him.
4. Amphorae: Many of the orange wines made in Friuli/Slovenia/Georgia are made in amphorae buried in the ground. Only
one winemaker had an amphora (Ryan or Matthew), but it was a small one and its use had been limited to experiments.
Apparently the beeswax-lined amphorae are mostly made in Georgia. I suggested that there may a business opportunity
here of importing Georgian clay amphorae. Darrell suggested that the company in Northern Calif that manufactures
clay sewer pipes (same material but a different configuration) could be convinced to manufacture these amphorae for
winemaking purposes. But it would seem there's a business opportunity for any winemaker pursuing orange wines for
a sideling business here. I'd noted some clay amphorae outside the DelDotto tasting room. But from their WebSite,
which I found a bit over the top, it appears they only use them to ferment a Zinfandel, but nothing is used in
their whites.
5. One of the best things about this discussion was the comments that Darrell brought to the table. Across the board,
he was quite complimentary of the wines. His insights and experiences, both w/ wines of Friuli and Calif, were
freely shared by Darrell (no surprise there) and, I think, valued highly by the winemakers present. I hope this
kind of discussion can be repeated again w/ more time available for give & take like this.
As this "seminar" on Ribolla drew to a close, the goat was done roasting and wrestled to the table to be carved.
We then adjourned back to the back yard to feast on roast goat, Porchetta from the BigGreenEgg, and a plethora of
terrific side dishes. The food was plentiful and amazingly good. And there was wine involved....lots of it. Alas no
notes. But best of all was the company. You could just imagine your were in a neighborhood get-together in the
heart of Friuli. I think Darrell captured it best when he related "This is the most fun I've had in the NapaVlly
in years". My sentiments as well. It was an amazing evening. Thanks to Steve & Jill for hosting it and thanks to all
the winemakers for sharing their passions and their wines.