Its Friuli thats at issue. Usually, a week is all I need. I dont think I can know a place after seven short days it would have to be an exceedingly simple locale to feel otherwise but Ive always got a visitors sense of it. A feel. A mood. A zeitgeist. A basis for assessment.
I dont have one for Friuli. I feel like Ive just barely scratched at the brittle, yet yielding surface of something I cant even begin to understand. Theres the usual fascinating tension common to conflicted border regions, yes, but Ive been to those before, and have usually left with an inexorable compulsion to returnbecause Ive fallen in love with that conflict, with that tension.
Here, however, I find that what Im in love with is the ambiguity. I do not yet get Friuli. I feel like Ive read the table of contents for a fascinating tale, but that the narrative is a complete mystery. Ive met the characters, but their stories remain elusive. The food is it Slovenian? Italian? Friulian? is part of it. The wine, subject to the same range of questions but also simmering with neotraditionalist energy, surging forward into the past, is part of it as well. Theres the language: Slovenian, Italian, and a panoply of dialects fanned out in the spaces between. Or the geography, ranging from the icy heights of the northern mountains to the broad arc of the Adriatic. And theres the history. Roman. Lombard. Italian. Tyrolean. Slovenian. Friulian.
There are forces and movements here that I dont perceive because I do not yet possess the lens. I have to come back. I have to read this tale. I have to know how it begins. Im not sure Ill ever understand how it ends. But Im eager to start reading.
continued here. Notes follow:
Haton 1996 Champagne Brut Millsim (Champagne) Champagne? Really? Not prosecco? Were in northeastern Italy, have asked for a bubbly apritif, and were getting Champagne? Well, OK. Its tart and chardonnay-esque, showing lemon, green apple, and clean sharpness. Theres no real complexity, and while theres plenty of verve, what the wine lacks is sufficient interest. Honestly, I think I would have preferred prosecco. (10/07)
Gravner 2001 Ribolla Gialla Anfora (Venezia Giulia) Restrained, to such an extent that I wonder about sub-detectable TCA. And then, after a few more sniffs, I wonder no more. Corked. (10/07)
Gravner 2001 Ribolla Gialla Anfora (Venezia Giulia) Elegant honeysuckle and wax with minor citrus elements. Surprisingly indifferent, which is not an experience Ive ever had with this (or any other) Gravner amphora wine. Its good, but its oddly pedestrian. Maybe something to do with drinking it at sea level? Barometric pressure, perhaps? Lunar phases? Roman ghosts that disapprove of Greek winemaking vessels? Whatever the cause, its a transparent shadow of its usual self. (10/07)
Bonaventura Maschio Prime Uve Acquavite dUva (Veneto) Harsh flowers. Coats, clears, then burns the nasal passages. Not fun. (10/07)
Canevel Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Brut (Veneto) Dry, sharp, and clean. Pretty basic, but good enough. (10/07)
Jermann 1996 Pignolo Pignacolusse Campi dei Fratti e Monache (Venezia Giulia) Just now approaching its mature phase, though its still very early in that stage. Aromatically, its as if someone blended the bright berries of gamay and the cedary greenness of cabernet sauvignon. I dont want to say its volatile, but its a bit lifted, which I guess is sort of a code for a minor case of the samethough in this wine, its more of a contributor to the overall complexity than it is an identifiable flaw. Berries darken at the core, wrapping their skins about themselves for tannic chew and texture. A long, solid finish brings the journey to a close. Very interesting. (10/07)
Maculan 1984 Breganze Torcolato (Veneto) From 375 ml. Very, very dark brown, and absent most of the wines expected character aside from a straightforward sweetness. Its still just a bit spicy, but this has traveled well past any stage in which I find much appeal. (10/07)
Romano Levi Grappa (Piedmont) For every cherished experience, there is a transformative moment. Sometimes, its soughtbut other times, it strikes as unexpectedly as lightning from a clear blue sky. This is an example of the latter.
Until this experience, I can say that Ive found grappa interesting. Interestingbut not good. It has been something to be explored for its variety and source-specificity, for its place in an Italian life, and for its convivial role. But this grappa changes everything. I am enraptured. Instantly, and without reserve. This is like nothing Ive ever experienced.
My notes, as scribbled into my journal at the moment of encounter, initially identify what Im drinking as incomprehensible label, producer in Nieve. Its only after I smell, and taste, that I apply myself to the work of deciphering the hand-drawn labels for which this producer is famous. I have never tasted a grappa like this, either in form or in quality. It is so superior to anything Ive previously encountered that it might as well be its own category. Supple yet full-flavored, drawing both fruit and mineral into a distillation of floral complexity, then lingering in a gentle decrescendo that slowly exposes both that minerality and the memory of a faded bouquet of the palest white roses. This is the best. The absolute best. Im floored. Stunned. Moved. So much of all three that the returning sommelier, noticing my bliss and knowing its source, pours a generous second helping in my glass. (10/07)
Kurtin 2005 Ribolla Gialla (Collio) Windy and flat, with wax and skins (the kind that are typical to traditionally-fermented ribolla gialla, not the amped-up structure of the orange wine cohort). Some underripe lime wanders about. Stodgy and linear. (10/07)
Castel San Mauro 2005 Ribolla Gialla (Collio) Fulsome, but structured like a broad, flat plain. Leaves, minerals, and anglesthe acuteness of which increase as the wine approaches its finish. Some alcoholic fatness as well. Just OK. (10/07)
Gradnik 2005 Ribolla Gialla (Collio) Very full-bodied, with ripe, yellow-toned fruit. The palate quickly deadens any pleasurable aromatic sensations, however, and soon the wine has taken on the texture of peanut butter. This is not, in case its unclear, a welcome impression. (10/07)