Tried these wines at Ronchi di Cialla last month:
1. Ronchi di Cialla Schioppettino (12.5%; ; #2569 of 6,246) 2010: Very dark color; beautiful classic Schio black cherry/black cherry cola rather blackpepper very fragrant/perfumed slight dusty nose; lightly tart very structured strong black cherry cola/very peppery very spicy slight dusty/earthy flavor; very long/lingering classic Schio/peppery very spicy finish; loads of Schio peppery character and very firm & structured; no reason this can't go out 10-20 yrs I suspect.
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2. Ronchi di Cialla Schioppettino (12.5%; #3383 of 9580) 1995: Dark color w/ no obvious bricking; very perfumed/aromatic strong black cherry cola/very spicy strong black pepper slight cedary/earthy/dusty quite complex nose; strong black cherry cola/peppery/very spicy bit dusty/herbal structured complex flavor w/ modest/smooth tannins; very much like the '10 in character and very youthful but smoother on the palate, a bit less black pepper character, and rather complex; no signs of age whatsoever; easily the best Schio that I've ever tasted and a great testimony as to the longevity of Schioppettino.
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3. Ronchi di Cialla Verduzzo di Cialla (12%; RS: 22-45 gm/l; #11370) 1983: Med.dark burnished bronze color; intense honeyed/orangey/grahm cracker bit smokey some old Semillon, some old Rhone/nutty very complex incredible nose; slightly tart off-dry figgy/honeyed/orangey light smokey/earthy slight nutty/old Semillon very complex flavor w/ no signs of oxidation whatsoever; a beautiful/complex/mature dessert wine in incredible shape for a 30+ yr old white; one of Paolo's original wines; maybe the best Italian dessert wine I've ever had; amazing stuff & great w/ the Pitina.
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More stuff from TheBloodyPulpit:
1. I have long been a fan of Friuli's Schioppettino grape. It has that black cherry cola character I like in Refosco plus it has a certain pungent/peppery character that I particularly like.
I also carried in my stash to Italy a btl each of the Matthiasson Refosco and Schioppettino that Steve gave me to show to any winemakers in Friuli. He suggested that Ronchi di Cialli (www.ronchidicialla.it/en) would be a good place to gift them.
Paolo & Dina Rapuzzi are the ones given credit for saving Schioppettino from near extinction in Friuli. They bought property in Cialli di Prepotto with the idea of focusing on Friuli's indigenous grapes. Alas, Schioppettino was thought to be extinct by Italian wine authorities and so was not a permitted variety to plant. They managed to find some 70 surviving vines in Cialla and surrounding territory, propagated them into their own vnyd and produced their first Schioppettino in 1977. You can read this riveting tale here:
Schioppettino
So, clearly, a visit to Ronchi di Cialli was a must on this trip.
I had tried a couple of Ronchi di Cialla wines I'd stumbled across up at BoulderWineMerchant, including the Schioppettino '06, which I thought was the best Schioppettino I'd ever tasted. So we were able to get an appt in the afternoon at the wnry.
RdC is located in this beautiful little valley above to town of Cialla. Their vnyd/wnry is the only one in this tiny valley. We were met outside the home by Ivan Rapuzzi. Since his father, Paolo, died about a yr ago, Ivan & his brother run the property along w/ Dina. We chatted a bit in the driveway & then Ivan led us down the hill to view the original Schioppettino vines Paolo had planted in the early '70's. It was love at first sight as one of the vines extended a tendril towards me in greeting. After a brief walk-thru of the wnry, we adjourned above to the kitchen where Dina welcomed us. True/warm Italian hospitality. We sat down at the kitchen table w/ a few of the wines wanted to show us. We were served a round chunk of Friulian Pitina salami. It was one of the best salamis I had on this trip. Read about Pitina here:
PitinaSalame
The Ronchi di Cialla wines are imported into this country by SoilAir Slctns in NYC:
SoilAirSlctns
but they can be difficult to find. They produce about 8,000 cs of wine/yr. They have an incredible library of their wines going back to the original '77 Schio.
I've only had a few mono-varietal Verduzzos in my life, and they'd been dry. They didn't say anything about Verduzzo being a great grape. Mostly, it's interplanted w/ Picolit to insure pollination of that sterile variety. When I expressed my lack of excitement for Verduzzo, Ivan promptly retrieved this btl of his '83 Verduzzo to open. I was blown away by it...maybe the best Italian dessert wine I've ever had. It reminded me a lot of an old Kalin Semillon. Incredible stuff.
The two Schioppettinos were also terrific. Maybe the best examples of that grape I've yet tried. It's a grape they should be planting more of in Calif...all up&down the Coast.
Ronchi di Cialla is making extraordinary Friulian wines, focusing on their indigenous grapes. It's a wnry worth seeking out.
Tom