Between a seminar I led at Vinitaly in April, a recent visit to Friuli and all the great wine that’s finding its way to Texas from Friuli (thanks to a new wave of independent distributors and forward-thinking wine professionals), some amazing Friulian wines have filled my glass over the last couple of months.

But the one I can’t stop thinking about is the Morus Alba by Vignai da Duline, a splurge wine that costs around $60 in our market.

Honestly, I can’t recall ever tasting a Malvasia Istriana and Sauvignon Blanc blend like this extraordinary wine. In my experience, Malvasia Istriana (not related to the many different clones of Malvasia found throughout Italy and Europe) is generally bottled as a monovarietal wine (like Venica’s excellent Pètris).

In this cuvée, the Malvasia has an opulent unctuousness that plays against the more angular Sauvignon Blanc with spectacular results. And even with a slightly higher alcohol content than I would generally reach for, this wine was impeccably balanced. What a wine!

I’ve never visited the winery or tasted with the winemaker but I imagine the proprietary name is a homage to Friuli’s historic silk trade.

Morus alba is Latin for the white mulberry, a tree commonly found in Friuli and a favorite food of silkworms.

The Morus Alba that Tracie P and I shared the other night was a splurge wine, for sure. A “special occasion” bottle that we enjoyed thanks to a project I’ve been working on. But, man, it was worth every penny…