CHICAGO ITALIAN LOVERS ROUND 11- A FOCUS ON FRIULI - Han 202, Chicago IL (7/22/2014)
This tasting had been postponed twice, but finally the Italian group was able to get together and dig into some vino from Friuli. Mark, Bill, and I sourced the bottles to make sure we had a good range of wines from this interesting region.
Opening wines
These were paired with some sashimi tuna
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2008 Ronco Severo Colli Orientali del Friuli Friulano Riserva - Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Colli Orientali del Friuli
Nose: The nose is very aromatic and balanced with marmalade, peaches, white fruits, red apples, pears, tangerines, and some mineral tones. There is excellent depth with a layered effect to the tones as well.
Taste: Medium/full bodied with medium+ acidity. The acidity is definitely on the tart side, but it isn’t overpowering with marmalade, peaches, red apples, pears, and some tangerines.
Overall: This definitely falls into the orange category. This has a lot of complexity and depth at this point, but it does feel like it can age and develop further. (92 pts.)
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2011 Larkmead Vineyards Tocai Friulano - USA, California, Napa Valley
Nose: The nose is fresh and crisp with sea shells, apples, white fruits, pears, minerals, and even some berry tones. There is medium depth to this with excellent balance to the tones.
Taste: Medium bodied with medium acidity. There is a fatness with a deft touch to the feel with sea shells, some lychees, white fruits, minerals, peaches, and red apples.
Overall: This was blind with a bunch of other friuli wines. This did confuse all of us, but it provided a nice contrast to the Italian wines. (89 pts.)
Ribolla Giallas
This flight was paired with Lobster Tails and Shrimp Toast
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2008 Damijan Podversic Collio Ribolla Gialla - Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Collio
Nose: The nose is wide open and aromatic with roasted herbs, marmalade, peaches, floral tones, tangerines, oranges, red apples, and some bits of tar. There is excellent depth with a lot of layering to the tones.
Taste: Full bodied with medium/high acidity. The feel is well layered and deep with roasted herbs, marmalade, peaches, oranges, red apples. The acidity is certainly on the youthful side and there is some real power behind the tones.
Overall: This was a stunning Ribolla Gialla. This certainly feels on the younger side, but it is well balanced and deep already. (93 pts.)
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2004 Gravner Ribolla Gialla Anfora Venezia Giulia IGT - Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Venezia Giulia IGT
Nose: There is a real elegance to the nose with peaches, white fruits, oranges, red apples, roasted herbs, and some floral notes. There is a refinement to the tones with excellent depth and class.
Taste: Medium/full bodied with medium+ acidity. The acidity is well balanced and the feel is refined with peaches, pears, roasted herbs, red apples, and some oranges.
Overall: This is a lovely Gravner. This leaned to a more elegant side rather than a wine with raw power. (91 pts.)
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2005 Gravner Ribolla Gialla Anfora Venezia Giulia IGT - Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Venezia Giulia IGT
Nose: The nose is wide open and balanced with roasted herbs, red florals, cherries, peaches, minerals, tar tones, and marmalade. The nose is very savory and leads to a more nuanced side of things too.
Taste: Medium/full bodied with medium/high acidity and some silky tannins. There is a deftness to the feel with roasted herbs, red florals, peaches, cherries, marmalade, and oranges.
Overall: This is a very pretty and savory Gravner. This leans more towards nuance and intrigue with excellent depth and balance to surround it. (92 pts.)
Reds
These were paired with Duck Breast and Sichuan Bean Sauce
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2000 Bastianich Calabrone Venezia Giulia IGT - Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Venezia Giulia IGT
I honestly didn’t know what to make of this wine. There were very green tones and over-ripe tones at the same time. I don’t know if this is representative, so I’m withholding a score for now. -
2007 Ronco Severo Colli Orientali del Friuli Schioppettino - Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Colli Orientali del Friuli
Nose: The nose is well balanced with dark red fruits, cherries, spice tones, herbs, and some earth notes. There is excellent depth with the nose being wide open.
Taste: Medium/full bodied with medium+ acidity and silky tannins. The feel is smooth and rounded with dark red fruits, cherries, herbs, earth tones, cedar, and some mineral notes too.
Overall: This was a new experience. I’ve never had a red from Friuli before and this was an excellent wine. (91 pts.)
Final (mostly) Whites
These were paired with a walnut tart
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2011 Bastianich Vespa Bianco - Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Venezia Giulia IGT
Nose: The nose is very intriguing and balanced with lanolin, white fruits, pears, white peaches, red apples, and some floral tones. There is very good depth with there being a lot of complexity to the tones.
Taste: Medium/full bodied with medium+ acidity. The acidity is on the refreshing side with lanolin, white fruits, red apples, white peaches, floral tones, and some mineral notes.
Overall: This was served on the warmer side. Even with it being slightly warmer, it showed a lot of balanced and good acidity. (91 pts.)
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2009 Ronco Severo Colli Orientali del Friuli Pinot Grigio - Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Colli Orientali del Friuli
Nose: The nose is on the more subtle and nuanced side with marmalade, peaches, tangerines, pears, herbs, and some floral notes. The nose melds together, but the tones do stand out on their own.
Taste: Medium bodied with medium+ acidity. The acidity is crisp and refreshing with peaches, marmalade, tangerines, and some herbs. Like the nose, there is a subtlety to the tones with the feel being nice and polished.
Overall: The color was on the lighter side as it was more of a orange-ish/salmon color. This certainly showed off the skin contact and it was done very well. (90 pts.)
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2009 Lis Neris Friuli Isonzo Pinot Grigio Gris - Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Friuli Isonzo
Nose: The nose is complex and intriguing with herbs, lemon curds, warm oils, peaches, citrus notes, and a real nice underlying minerality. There is a real expressive side to the nose with good depth.
Taste: Medium bodied with medium+ acidity. The acidity is very refreshing and it doesn’t overpower with herbs, lemon curds, peaches, white fruits, warm oils, with a racy mineral base.
Overall: This is a really good bottle of Pinot Grigio. It’s one of the more complex ones I’ve had and it does a fantastic job of showing off what Pinot Grigio can really be in the right hands. (91 pts.)
This was an absolute blast. Not only did the wines show extremely well, the food was absolutely killer. I really don’t know of any way that this could’ve worked out better. This tasting is exactly what this group is about. I can’t wait til we do this theme again.
Posted from CellarTracker