WBW#41 Friuli-Venezia Giulia White Wines: The Magic of iClivi

It's Wine Blogging Wednesday again, and this month's theme, hosted by Fork and Bottle, is one of the best in many months. I love Italian whites, and haven't had nearly enough Friuli wines, so it's a great excuse seek out a great one.

This month, I feel very fortunate to have been turned on to a wine that I can revisit for this month from a master winemaker, Ferdinando Zanusso at iClivi. I first tasted this at the wonderful restaurant, Hearth, in NYC with one of my dear friends who just happens to work for Artisan Wines, an important importer of great Italian wines. Hearth had it on special by the glass, but honestly, I think it was not this exact bottling, but I still remembered it was very exciting at the time.

When I heard of our theme I called up my friend and asked if he could send me some more to write about today and he also sent a red Friuli and one more Clivi for the cellar. That is what friends are for --I really love this wine.

This is completely natural wine. No oak. No racking. No filtering. Natural yeast from the grapes themselves do the fermenting. Only age and long slow cold fermentation form what ends up in the glass. The grapes, mostly Tocai with a little Malvasia,  come from very old stock, up to 70 years old, with very low yields. The result is a stunningly clean wine.

2002 Clivi Brazan

The first thing that hits you is how fresh the wine smells, like it was just pressed with the headiness of the must rising from the tank. Then comes gentle flowery tones, honey, seaside minerals, and a hint of banana tropicals.  The lack of filtration makes the wine coat the palate in a lovely way, with some nice heft. Five years of age has left her mark, imparting a beautiful glow in the glass. While this has less of the bracing acidity of a lot of the Friuli whites I've had, with more minerality that doesn't detract from pairing this with food. It is drinking perfectly now, but a few more years of age couldn't hurt.

Seek this wine out. Highly recommended.

Comments

[Jack at Fork & Bottle]

Great write-up of this wine, and I'm not at all surprised it was excellent. I've had a couple of bottles from this producer (and still aging 1-2 bottles; somewhere in my cellar) that were wonderful, and priced like a bargain (so unusual to get anything at KLWM that's well-priced).

One tiny quibble; I don't racking wine is "unnatural".

[The Corkdork]

Hi Jack,

I don't think racking is unnatural either, but perhaps I should have said "with minimal intervention" instead of natural. Thanks for catching the typo too. Looking forward to the round-up. John