50% Friulano, 30% Chardonnay, 20% Sauvignon Blanc; 13% ABV
Collio DOC, northeastern Italy
imported by Eugenio Collavini Viticoltori, Santa Rosa, CA
$10 at the Richmond, CA, store on 25 Feb
I recalled liking the Collavini 2013 Ribolla Gialla, although I haven’t tried the more recent vintage of this bottling, so I was excited to see from Collavini a Refosco and a couple fancier white wines: the “Turian” (another Ribolla Gialla) and this wine. I was a little skeptical of the blend (the CA Chardonnay – Sauvignon Blanc blends I’ve tasted have been weird), but decided to get a bottle out of some combination of trust and curiosity. 🙂 I thought this wine was delicious!
Although the wine had a lovely nose, I found the first taste a little underwhelming, a strange combination of heavy-ish honeyed yellow flowers and fruit, stopped short by a bitter structure. However, with some air, the wine opened to nicely delineated flavors of (as initially) honeyed yellow flowers, yellow pear / apple, white pear, hints of green herbs and lime, bitterness of the herbs / grape skin, and minerality close to the white pear. There was quite a range of flavors, but the blend was seamless, with a nice fruit / acid balance. While none of this bottle survived to the next day, I expect it would follow the typical pattern of becoming more fruit-forward, less structured, but still tasty.