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by Tom Hill

A self-admitted wine geek, Tom lives in Northern New Mexico and works as a computational physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory doing numerical neutron transport & large scale code development. He has been tasting wines since 1971, participates locally with a couple of large tasting groups in his area, and is practically a fixture at most California wine festivals, such as the Hospice du Rhône, Rhône Rangers, and ZAP. Other interests: Tom is heavily into competitive sport fencing (foil & epee), biking, cooking, basketball, skiing, backpacking, mountain climbing.

Some New Friuli Whites - July 11, 2012

We tried tonight (7/11/12) Some New Friuli Whites:

  1. VerusVnyds Riesling Dry ZGP: Kakorostno Vino/Stajerska/Slovenia (12.0%) Ormoz/Slovenia 2007: Light gold color; strong very fragrant pineapple/floral/R rather steely/slatey/Mosel valve oil quite perfumed nose; tart floral/pineapply/R strong slatey/steely/Mosel valve oil slight earthy dry flavor; very long steely/ slatey/Mosel valve oil ripe/pineapply/floral/R tart/dry finish; bit richer & lusher but much like a good Mosel R at a very good price. $20.00 (CB)
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  2. Renzo Sgubin Malvasia DOC: Isonzo/Friuli (14.5%) Cormons 2009: Med.gold color; strong Malvasia very candied/ cotton candy/sugar water slight earthy/pencilly nose; tart some Malvasia/floral rather bitter candied/cotton candy fairly dry somewhat sour flavor; long quite bitter/sour earthy/candied/cotton candy/artificial/cotton acndy finish; not repulsive but not very attractive. $13.50 (CB)
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  3. Casa Zuliani DOC: Malvasia Collio (13.5%) Farro d'Isonzo 2008: Med.gold color; rather fragrant/perfumed floral/Malavasia light earthy/waxy/parrafin nose; near dry slightly bitter/metallic/earthy light floral/ Malavasia rather quiet flavor; med.long off-dry slightly bitter pleasant Malvasia/floral light earthy finish; a pleasant enough Malvasia but just that; too pricey at $24.00 (BWM)
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  4. ArbeGarbe MalvasiaBianca RRV (14.2%; www.ArbeGarbe.com) 2010: Med.gold color; very strong/intense Malvasia/ muscatty/floral quite fragrant/perfumed slight metallic/steely nose; fairly tart quite perfumed/floral/ Malvasia/muscatty slight bitter/metallic/steely rather rich/lush flavor; very long perfumed/intense/floral/ muscatty/Malvasia slight bitter/metallic finish; much more muscatty than Malvasia; rather rich/lush but the metallic/bitter character gives it a tangy aspect. $27.00 (CB)
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  5. Ronco del Gelso Sot lis Rivis PinotGrigio DOC: Isonzo del Friuli RiveAlte (14%) 2009: Light gold color; light earthy/fragrant/mineral/floral attractive PG nose; soft rich/lush floral/earthy/mineral/chalky rather quiet PG flavor; very long soft/lush rather floral/earthy/PG bit chalky finish; a rather big/ripe bit over-the-top PG that doesn't speak much of Friuli. $36.00 (WE)
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  6. Ronco del Gelso Sauvignon DOC: Isonzo del Friuli RiveAlte (14.5%) 2009: Light gold color; very intense herbal/ cat pee/cat litter box pungent/SB nose; soft very lush/ripe strong cat pee/cat litter box/pungent bit stinky/ earhty/wet pavement very assertive SB flavor; long soft/lush/ripe herbal/SB/cat litter/cat pee finish; very strong cat pee/SB character but lacks minerality and rather over-the-top. Pricey at $37.00 (WE)
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  7. Marjan Simcic SauvignonBlanc Selekcija (www.Simcic.Si; 13.5%) 2008: Med.gold/orange color; some earthy/pungent orangey/tangerine/citrusy slight herbal/SB/dusty rather strange/non-SB interesting nose; soft/ripe bit tannic/bitter rich rather quiet/low-key/SB/earthy slight orangey/tangerine strange rather interesting flavor; long tangerine/orange quiet/herbal/SB/earthy some tannic/bitter finish; needs age I guess; obviously made w/ skin-contact; some like Cowan Isa SauvBlanc made w/ skin contact but not as fresh and good. $32.00 (K&L)
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  8. EdiSimcic Rubikon Rebula (12.5%) GoriskaBrda/Slovenia 2009: Light gold color; bit perfumed talk/olive/pungent low-key fruit/candied/ripe quite interesting nose; fairly tart green olive/earthy/perfumed talc some pungent/RG interesting flavor; rather long fairly tart rich perfumed talc/earthy/green olive somewhat pungent/RG finish; no obvious skin contact; speaks fairly strongly of pungent/olive/RG. $28.00 (BWM)
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  9. Ronco del Gelso Latimis IGT: VeneziaGiulia (13.5%; late-picked TocaiFriulano/ PinotBianco/Riesling) 2008: Med.light gold color; slight earthy quite ripe/floral/lush almost botrytis/candied rather fragrant/perfumed nose; off-dry (1%?) soft ripe/lush pineapply/floral/spicy/ orangey quite rich/ripe flavor; very long off-dry lush/ripe floral/pineapply/mango/orangey bit earthy finish; lots of ripe fruit and more like a German Spatlese or Auslese than a Friuli white; nice white by pricey at $35.00 (WE)
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  10. Keber Collio DOC: Collio WW (13.5%; T.ElentenyImports) Farmer Edi Keber/Cormons 2010: Light gold color; rather fragrant/spicy/Tokai/fruity slight waxy/mucilage/earthy interesting nose; tart some pungent/waxy/mucilage fragrant/ spicy/Tokai/fruity/floral light earthy/mineral interesting flavor; very long tart/spicy/Tokai/fruity/floral somewhat pungent/waxy finish; speaks mostly of Tokai; a nice Fruilano but just that; rather pricey at $34.00 (BWM)
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  11. Kabaj Amfora GoriskaBrda/Slovenia (Frmtd in 3500 litre clay kvevri for > 12 mo; no SO2 added; 12.5%) Jean-Michel Morel 2005: Dark gold/orange/burnished bronze color; slight oxidized/nutty/old Rhone bit sherry-like classic orange wine interesting/complex nose; rather tannic/hard bit bitter nutty/oxidized some earthy/orangey rather rich quite phenolic complex flavor; very long tannic/hard/phenolic somewhat bitter/astringent somewhat oxidized/nutty/ sherry-like finish; a pretty classic orange wine and pretty much devoid of fruit; pretty pricey at $60.00 (CB)
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  12. Zidarich DOC: Vitovska Carso (12.5%; Nonfilterato; www.AISelections.com) Zidarich/Prepotto Praprot/ Trieste 2008: Rather orange/gold color; slight oxidized/nutty/old Rhone white earthy some orangey/fruity quite perfumed/fragrant spicy/nutmeg/apricotty complex nose; soft some tannic/phenolic/bitter lush/ripe/apricotty spicy/ nutmeg/orangey/fruity slight oxidized/nutty complex flavor; very long/lingering some tannic/phenolic/bitter lush/ orangey/apricotty/fruity bit oxidized/nutty complex finish; quite an interesting/complex example of an orange wine; rather pricey at $64.00 (BWM)


And the usual ramblings from the BloodyPulpit:

1. Orange wines: Several of these wines were obviously made with a fair amount of skin-contact and the last two were made as orange wines in qvervi/amphorae. It's not at all clear why these wines are so expensive, other than Gravner/Radikon command such high prices and these folks think their's are as good as those two. These are definitely weird wines and certainly not to everyone's taste. What they'll age into is anyone's guess.

Of course, if you're into the latest/hotest/trendy wines; then these wines are your thing. As I serve most all of  the orange wines I come across to my group; there's almost always some shaking of heads, puzzled looks, and snorts of consternation when they see the prices. Many of my group, when it comes to orange wines, are absolutely convinced that the emperor wears no clothes. I find many of these wines are "interesting", but rather too tannic on the palate. Maybe the emperor doesn't wear no clothes...maybe the emperor is just dressed in his finest Fruit-Of-The-Loom skivvies.

Of these two wines, I much preferred the Vitovska. Vitovska is a grape that is only found in the Carso region near Trieste and in Slovenia. It apparently is derived from both Prosecco and Malvasia of a certain kind.
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2. This was a pretty strange/unusual set of Friulian whites. Especially the $$ made them pretty high-end wines. I thought the Ronco del Gelso wines were a bit over-the-top and not very characteristic of Friulian whites. If anything, I thought this group lacked the minerality and the prettiness I like in Friuli whites. They just seemed to be a bit on the charmless side.

TomHill

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