Why is Friuli Typecast for White Wine?

This north-easterly Italian region harbours mind-blowing reds, as I experienced in a legendary Pignolo tasting

Many of the world’s best-loved actors are also the most typecast. Think Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman or Keira Knightley. They’ve spent their entire careers repeating the same roles - hot action star, wise old man, period totty - to continued critical and popular acclaim. It’s not always so straightforward though. Daniel Radcliffe will be forever known as the child actor who played Harry Potter, despite success in adult roles. And wither Macaulay Culkin, aside from his abortive attempts at a musical career in adulthood?

Wine regions can suffer the same fate. Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy’s gateway to central and eastern Europe, rose to fame in the 1970s for what was then a groundbreaking wine style. Its pure, fruit-forward whites - most particularly from the Collio - were the result of the region’s early adoption of German enological tech. Pioneers such as Mario Schiopetto and Livio Felluga made history with their use of selected yeasts and stainless steel tanks, and transformed the region’s perception for Italian wine lovers everywhere¹.

But the shine on Friuli’s crown has tarnished in recent times. Aside from resting on its laurels, climate change plays a role. Malvasia Istriana with 15% alcohol doesn’t feel quite so elegant and refreshing as those crystalline wines of yore. The word on the street is that up to half of Friuli’s vineyards are now planted with Glera, to fuel the insatiable appetite of DOC Prosecco - which was expanded to include Friuli-Venezia Giulia in 2009.

Red wine was barely a whisper on the lips of Friuli’s growers over the last half century. Yet there are more native red varieties from this region than whites. And some of them are extraordinary.