The devolution will not be televised

T

Thor

Thor Iverson
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This is a region where identity is a fluid thing. The multi-lingual signs and placards one sees everywhere arent necessarily Italian and Slovenian; the many Slovene-influenced Friulian dialects make their appearance too. Neighboring restaurants feature menus with only minor shifts in foundation, but which are identified as obviously different by localsone Italian, the other Friulian. Names within the same family drift back and forth between the two languages, and its rarely clear until a discussion starts which language will be spoken at any gathering of locals. Its not that a given individual is unclear about his or her identity in fact, thats decidedly not the case but rather that the contrasts, contradictions, traditions, and tensions coexist on a daily basis, and are as prosaic as breathing to those who inhabit this land.

In this environment, orange wines make perfect sense. Theyre not white wines as we know them, though similarities to their more conventionally-produced brethren are usually identifiable. But theyre not red wines either, despite the structural suggestions. Theyre wines that play multiple roles simultaneously, and do it with neither fear nor overt confidence, but rather under the assumption that do be otherwise is to be untrue to themselves. Here, in this place, such wines seem almost normal.

continued here. Notes follow:

Radikon 2007 Ribolla Gialla (barrel sample) (Venezia Giulia) Tight and yet as beautifully weird as expected; no reason not to jump in with both Dadaist feet and fight through the cobwebs. Tannin is the initial impression, followed by apricot and cream, then a sweet, brioche-like character. Very long and dense, but identifiable components are mere teases at the moment. The wines still hard, though its future character can be glimpsed. (10/07)

Radikon 2006 Ribolla Gialla (barrel sample) (Venezia Giulia) Matchstick, chamomile, minerals, and the light bitterness of over-steeped tea leaves. (10/07)

Radikon 2005 Ribolla Gialla (barrel sample) (Venezia Giulia) Fruit salad heavy on the pineapple, with tannin and spiky acidity. Citrusy and linear. Needs to settle down. (10/07)

Radikon 2004 Ribolla Gialla (barrel sample) (Venezia Giulia) Golden. Apples and citrus, with clean tannin. (10/07)

Radikon 2005 Oslavje (barrel sample) (Venezia Giulia) Tannic (big surprise), sauvignon-dominated, and full of fruity tropicality. (10/07)

Radikon 2005 Oslavje (barrel sample) (Venezia Giulia) Take two, from a different barrel. And, of course, completely different. Very floral, round, and full-bodied, with peaches. Also, dried honey laden with beeswax (which is also a textural impression). Huge, but complete. Rather impressive. (10/07)

Radikon 2006 Oslavje (barrel sample) (Venezia Giulia) Grapefruit. Big actually, almost fat with solidity and length. Theres a significant vinyl element (both aromatic and textural) that I dont quite understand, though. (10/07)

Radikon 2005 Jakot (barrel sample) (Venezia Giulia) Fresh and light. Makrut lime poured over rocks. Simpler than the other wines, with a straightforward flavor. Already seems fairly complete. Long. (10/07)

Radikon 2006 Jakot (barrel sample) (Venezia Giulia) Pine, fresh bread, and papaya. Well-balanced and long. Perhaps a hint of reduction as well, which seems unlikely for this wine; perhaps Im misidentifying something. (10/07)

Radikon 2004 Merlot (barrel sample) (Venezia Giulia) Fig, bubblegum, and some volatile acidity. Theres agreement on this latter point, and so we try again from a different container. (10/07)

Radikon 2004 Merlot (barrel sample) (Venezia Giulia) Meatier and fuller than the first sample, with no significant volatile acidity. (10/07)

Radikon 2003 Merlot (barrel sample) (Venezia Giulia) Perfumed. Black cherry, blueberry, nut skins. Big tannin, yes (in that, its reflective of its year), but theres a vintage-specific sort of balance to the wine. Long. Very good. (10/07)

Radikon 2003 Pignolo (barrel sample) (Venezia Giulia) Very tannic, with dusty, dark berries. Needs a lot of time, but given the gravitational core of concentration within, it could be a stunner. Or it could fall apart under the weight of its structure. Its difficult to say at this stage. (10/07)

Radikon 2004 Pignolo (barrel sample) (Venezia Giulia) Meat with a hint of char, herbs, and softer tannins than the 2003. Lighter and more angular. Somewhere in between this and the 2003 would seem to be the ideal range for this grapes inherent qualities, but then again these wines arent (to my knowledge) being released, so who knows? (10/07)

Radikon 2002 Oslavje (Venezia Giulia) Spicy and full-bodied, lush with cream , but with a contrapuntal midpalate bite. Strong and complex. Tastes more vibrant, somehow, than it does in the U.S.not that this result is much of a surprise, given the fidgety vulnerability of its chemistry, which can seem to be (but is not) belied by its brash iconoclasm. (10/07)

Radikon 2003 Jakot (Venezia Giulia) Explosively aromatic, though precisely whats in the shrapnel is difficult to pin down. Dried fruit, perhaps. Lush, fun, and fulsome. (10/07)

Radikon 2001 Ribolla Gialla (Venezia Giulia) A bit shy (do these wines even have a closed period?), with a comparatively silky texture and a softer finish than has been the norm in other vintages. Lovely and balanced, but reticent. (10/07)

Radikon 1997 Oslavje Riserva Ivana (Venezia Giulia) Smoked, sun-baked minerals (seriously) and mirabelle plum. Youthful and so, so long. Piercing, and yet prettily sweet (not, I think, from residual sugar). Brilliant. (10/07)
 
I like the Radikon wines OK, but have never had one that I really dug like I dig the Zidarich and the Munjebel. Even the Radikon riserva didn't really play the right music for me. Maybe we just need to visit, then I'll understand.
 
originally posted by mlawton:
I like the Radikon wines OK, but have never had one that I really dug like I dig the Zidarich and the Munjebel. Even the Radikon riserva didn't really play the right music for me. Maybe we just need to visit, then I'll understand.
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I like Zidarich as well. Really like Votopivec. Had a pretty decent Damijan the other night. Haven't had Munjebel.

But, Radikon towers over them all for me. Interestingly, I don't love the Riserva Ivana wines.
 
Mike, given your current obsessions, I think you pretty much have to head to Friuli.

Interestingly, I don't love the Riserva Ivana wines.
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I've been back and forth with the Riservas, but of late they've seemed to hit something for me. Or my palate has changed. Either way they're a little steep, so I don't own any.
 
Great report....have you tried any of these barrel samples in the bottle yet, Thor? (guessing you'd have posted as such, but had to ask...)

Does Radikon even make any refosco or schioppettino? The local varieties seem to have at least a snap and crackle (maybe even a pop).
 
Great report....have you tried any of these barrel samples in the bottle yet, Thor? (guessing you'd have posted as such, but had to ask...)
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No, not yet. I've decided that while I quite like Radikon young, I'm interested to see what happens with age. So the relatively few bottles that I own are resting.

That said, we have some French friends visiting next week, and the husband is a wine enthusiast (not at our level of anti-social geekery, but a definite enthusiast). I try to serve 0% French wines in such cases (not always easy, considering the makeup of my cellar), and I'm eager to spring a Radikon on them, just to see what they say. Or if they look like they've swallowed a live bug. It should be fun. I'll report back.

Does Radikon even make any refosco or schioppettino? The local varieties seem to have at least a snap and crackle (maybe even a pop).
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If they do, I didn't see any. A Radikon schioppettino would have to be interesting, wouldn't it?

any idea how much friuli "red" is exported, and to where?
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No, and I don't have any idea where to look, either. I did some poking around, but neither the Italian Trade Commission nor the various Friulian consorzios were any help, at least in their online configurations.

I can tell you that in the Boston market, it's a bare trickle, and most of that is low-cost merlot. A lot of the better wines are "available," but it's a theoretical (or at best, anecdotal) availability; they either never leave the distributor unless ordered, or are going on some sort of double-secret-probation allocation. Which is to say, one will very, very occasionally see a bottle.
 
cloudy wines for non-geeks....hope you have opaque black glasses (just kidding, but would be fun with this kind of wine, for sure).

"low cost merlot" sort of fits the profile i've heard....which is that the reds (i.e., the international "known" varieties, at least) are mainly pot boilers, made for local (friuli) restaurant demand. seems the winemaker's hearts lie in the "whites". we do get a trickle of the friuli reds here in Japan too. i think they can be interesting, esp. the indigenous stuff, but if one considers the winemaking, they have less vinous room to leap compared to the whites.
 
Well, there are some excellent merlots and merlot-based blends. "World-class," if that phrase has any traction with you (for me, it depends). I've written about a few in the above-referenced travelogue. Merlot seems as "indigenous" as anything else red, really, but it's true that the world hardly needs more merlot.

if one considers the winemaking, they have less vinous room to leap compared to the whites
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Don't dare them. Who knows what we'll get?
 
"world class" to me says that such wines can compete and be compared with other wines representing benchmarks for the type. it sounds as if you're saying that some winemakers are motivated beyond filling out local restaurants' needs with their reds. it is interesting that, so far, the rep for the reds appears to be, at best, "passable"/"good"/ even "world class", while the orange wines are in a class by themselves. that contrast intrigues me (maybe making a decent red in this case is like playing standards?)

i did have a refosco/c.franc/merlot recently which i liked, though i would be hard pressed to identify the merlot in that wine, much less venture to guess why such a blend came to mind for the winemaker (esp. refosco and c.franc, as they seem quite similar). i expect that the merlot was there to soften/give body to the refosco and/or cf, but that's as far as i got. that aside, what i liked was the individuality of the wine....it was not reminiscent of another country's wine, (as far as i could tell). i suppose that attempting to make "world class" wines is laudable, (seems every country that's not called france is doing their best), but given where my current tastes lie, the term is less of a draw than it used to be. however, if it allows winemakers a means to spend more time and money on their idiosyncratic wines, more power to them!
 
it sounds as if you're saying that some winemakers are motivated beyond filling out local restaurants' needs with their reds
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Quite a few, actually. Whether they succeed or not is a different question. But as I said, I don't really know where they end up.

maybe making a decent red in this case is like playing standards?
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Maybe. They're certainly more familiar. I mean, what are you going to do with the red, take it off the skins and make a white wine? I've had that experiment from the Loire, and was less than intrigued.

Even before the orange wines, though, the whites from Friuli were still better known, at least in this country, because of their easier quaffability. Even then, no one needed more merlot.

I haven't yet had a "world class" wine from refosco, pignolo, schioppettino, etc. in the way I was describing, but they very well might exist. But as I hinted and you're also theorizing, the wines that do aspire to that label aren't the sort of thing we want to drink all that much of. It's a quandary.
 
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