The stretch of land along the North Adriatic coast is one of the most soulful areas I’ve traveled through. The area includes the Croatian & Slovenian portions of Istria, runs through Italy. Carso is a small strip of land that hugs the sea and surrounds Trieste, Italy. It’s here that you’ll find Benjamin Zidarich of …
I’ve long been a fan of Ronchi di Cialla. This small, family-run estate is tucked away in the hills of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. They are responsible for single-handedly saving the grape Schioppettino from extinction. They are also home to their own subzone, Cialla. The Cialla subzone sits at the northern edge of where grape growing is …
Hello! Welcome to As Drunk by Exotic Wine Travel, a weekly column where we feature interesting wines that we encourage you to seek out. The reviews featured in this series may be written by either one or the both of us. The featured wines can be from obscure or well-known wine regions. We hope that these wine …
Rich White Italian Wines: Marco Felluga & Russiz Superiore Read More »
Reading Time: We love the wines of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Earlier in 2017, we did a weeklong tasting trip through the region, visiting some iconic producers. After that trip, we became hooked on these wines. After six weeks touring through the wine regions of Hungary and Slovakia, our friend Vedran drove up from Zagreb to meet …
Reading Time: Friuli-Venezia Giulia is arguably the source of Italy’s most exciting white wines. We were impressed with the whites when we visited, but beyond just the whites, we were also astonished by the diversity of the wine region. There are a shocking number of excellent red wines being made in Friuli. A good number …
Ronchi di Cialla and Moschioni: Wines of Friuli’s Indigenous Red Grapes Read More »
Reading Time: Gravner and Radikon have been high on our “must visit” list for a long time. We are huge fans of the natural, macerated, qvevri wines in Georgia. While the Georgians have been making this style of wine for thousands of years, these two Friulian producers were the ones that pushed this style of …
Gravner and Radikon: Italian Wines Without Compromise Read More »
Reading Time: When we selected wineries to visit during our Friuli-Venezia Giulia trip, we wanted to taste the best that the region had to offer. Most of our trip focused on visiting small producers. Several larger producers have left their mark on the wine scene and we wanted to visit a few of them as …
Reading Time: Nice white wines and a few amber wine producers. That was our impression of Friuli-Venezia Giulia before we visited the region. It turns out that both of our initial impressions are correct, but there’s more to Friuli than that. It’s a dynamic region with so many different styles of wines being made. Some …
Reading Time: Several months ago as we were planning our trip to Friuli-Venezia Giulia, we posted on Antonio Galloni’s Vinous forum seeking suggestions for “only the best wineries in Friuli”. One member responded, “There can only be one… Miani.” Our fate is decided. Enzo Pontoni is the owner, vigneron, and winemaker at the garage winery Miani. …
