Much needed rain arrived in Friuli this moring.
As you can see in the photo above, spring has come early to the region (and the rest of Italy) but the current drought here will stymie the vegetative cycle if sufficient water doesn’t arrive.
More will be needed but good news…
Last night at Specogna.
I was completely floored by this wine, aged in large cask.
Acidity, nuanced fruit and minerality… One of the best, if not the best, wine of the trip so far. One of the best wines I’ve had this year and a wine that bespeaks Friuli’s immense potential to deliver world-class white wines.
At Specogna last night…
I’d never had brovada in a soup…
In case you’ve never had it, brovada is a classic Friulian dish made from shredded turnips that have been macerated and partly fermented with grape skins.
The acidity of the grape juice gives the dish a wonderful tang. The soup was off-the-charts delicious.
Last night at Specogna.
Lidia hosted the COF2012 blogger team for lunch at her foresteria country house adjacent to the Bastianich winery this afternoon.
Here are some of the dishes that she prepared for us. She was super nice…
I snapped this photos of a Picolit vine in Cialla yesterday.
“We’re 20 days ahead of the norm,” said Francesco Degano, Colli Orientali del Friuli Consortium technical adviser.
Much needed rain still hasn’t arrived (as of noon today) but is still expected…
From the department of “dreams do come true”…
Check out this post by Hawk Wakawaka on on our visit yesterday to Ronchi di Cialla, one of my all-time favorite wineries…
For this year’s COF2012 blogger project, we’re employing a “speed dating” format for the morning tastings so that more producers can have direct contact with the bloggers.
My highlight in this morning’s session was the 2011 (Tocai) Friulano by Jacùss. Even though the wine’s only been in bottle for a few days, I loved its classic, elegant aromatic character and its clean, super fresh nose. White and slightly under-ripe fruit in the mouth, zinging acidity, and delicate yet confident weight. #CouldDrinkThisWineEveryDay
“Friuli-Venezia Giulia to ration water,” read the headline of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia regional edition of the Italian national daily Il Messaggero on Saturday when I arrived in the region (see below).
“It hasn’t rained for months,” said winemaker Germano Zorzettig when he and I sat down to chat after the COF2012 bloggers went to bed last night (we’re all staying at his gorgeous Corte San Biagio agriturismo in Corno di Rosazza (province of Udine). “We haven’t seen anything like this in years.”
Rain is expected (and hoped for) here on Tuesday but the situation is weighing heavily on grape growers and winemakers here (and throughout Italy).
With the early arrival of warm temperatures, flowers are beginning to bloom and the vegetative cycle of the vines has already been set into motion. The current drought, combined with fears of an late spring frost that could stymie the vegetative cycle (with disastrous results), is causing a loss of sleep among the Friulian winery owners that we’ve spoken to so far.
Fingers crossed for rain on Tuesday! We’ll be here…
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Do Bianchi 