Tag: Friuli

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Strength and Elegance from Picech wines

Picech Wines

Back in Friuli Venezia Giulia, a region in Italy that is close to my heart, I took a long weekend to catch up with a few long due visits.

One of the (no longer) hidden pearls from the region, are the macerated white wines (aka orange wines). Those have been steadily growing in quality, technique and relevance in the region in this last decade.

Legends like Gravner, opened the way to many other producers to explore the complexities of a white wine produced as red one.

In a nutshell, to produce white macerate wines, the grapes are gently pressed with their skins. Those are left in contact with the must from a few hours to several weeks. This process lends body, length and depth to the wine. The color is built over darker hues of yellow, which can get more intense depending on the maceration time. The process also builds a characteristic range of aromas that includes bees wax, almonds, terracotta and orange peel.

Macerated white wines are one of a kind. I won’t tell you if good or bad, since taste is as individual as fingerprints. However, I would suggest that on the first time you try it, keep an open mind, be slow on judging and preferably, be comfortably sitting.

Meeting Roberto Picech

I started the journey from Trieste up to Collio early in the morning, with Sara, an oenologist friend of mine. It was one of those incredibly hot days from this summer and moving up the hills mildly brought some freshness to the air.

Among the meetings we had scheduled for the day, Picech was one I have been waiting for a while to connect with.

We were received by Roberto Picech, owner and wine maker of Picech wines, and his dog. Both welcoming us warmly, each one in their own ways.

As we began our chat, we head out for a walk around the plots of the pretty vineyard.

Picech started a while back to implement organic practices, which have now reached the whole vineyard. Flowers and grass grow freely along side the vines.

Nature has historically been generous with the region, but the weather has been playing challenging cards lately. Super hot summers are making it trickier to align the maturation curves of the grapes. As a contrast, hail has been hitting hard the Friulano vines for two years. With an attentive eye, we could see sporadic bruises on the branches from the ice, giving clues on the story behind the losses from the last vintages.

Coming back to the house, our canine friend was there waiting for us. She welcomed us back with such happiness that it felt we were away for days, instead of minutes.

A vespa by the door of the location entrance reminded us that were in Italian territory.

We were at home.

Picech Location

Meeting the Picech wines

A particular aspect of wine tasting that I enjoy is the build up of expectations, as you move up in the complexity of the bottles.

Roberto first presented us with his classic wines from the most recent vintage on Friulano, Malvasia and Pinot Bianco.

Still wild and hyper active in the glass, waiting for a bit of aging to calm them down a bit and lend the stability that only time can give. Potent, with a lot of warmth in alcohol, recalling the hot summers in the region. All well incorporated in the body, creating precision in the experience.

As the sun begins to slowly set and we were closing our chat around the classic line, Roberto got things ready for the next act. He slowly stood up, cleaned a bit the table with a piece of cloth, reorganized the glasses and asked whether we could call the main actresses to the stage.

Athena

Athena, was named as of his daughter. An interpretation of Friulano through the point of view of a white maceration. Before going to lengthy descriptions or running technical evaluations in my head, the first sip just brought a smile to my face. The descriptors of Friulano are there but in a different, playful, bulkier and unapologetic way.

Friulano destemmed grapes, macerated for 16 days in large barrels (25 hl), without controlling for temperature and without using selected yeast. After pressing, the wine rests in large barrels for 18 months.

Intense on the nose, with opening on white peaches, acacia flowers, grapefruit, bees wax, green almonds and a minor but pleasant resinated note.

Intense and warm on the palate, the tannins play their role in resonance with the other elements of the structure of the wine. They bring tension and body to sustain a great level of complexity in the structure.

Jelka

Named after his mom, Jelka brings up the roots of the region. A blend of three indigenous grapes from Friuli: Ribolla Gialla, Friulano and Malvasia. The age of the producing vines range from 15 to over 50 years old. You can feel that the age of the vines has landed focus and concentration to the results.

Friulano grapes are destemmed and macerated for 15 days in large barrels, aging for 12 months. Ribolla Gialla and Malvasia are fermented normally and rest for 12 months in tonneau. The blend of the three wines is then brought to concrete vats, and rest there for about 3 years. Jelka, doesn’t reach the shelves before 5 years after the harvest.

Intense and complex on the palate. Balance sustained from the attack of the wine to the fading of persistence. The roundness in the palate is rich, but the acidity makes a statement in the structure bringing brightness, freshness and cleaning to the finish – which was really interesting to notice considering the work in concrete which brings the pH a bit up and the age of 5 years after the harvest. Great depth, which kept on opening by the minute. White flowers, lemon zest, candied orange peel, wet slate, claypot, cedar and cloves.

My definition of elegance in wine.

My thoughts on Picech wines

Talking with Roberto, reassures you of the pleasure of sharing great wine in great company.

Great wines are transparent to the personality of the wine maker. That is a true statement for Picech. Strength, warmth, unapolegetic. Yet, patient, elegant and with complexity and depth to create gravity in the glass.

Picech wines tell about the story of Collio, of Friuli. Looking into the past and creating space for the vibrancy of indigenous grapes, while aiming into the future and constantly iterating on new ways to improve their expression.

Potent wines built to age, and that know how to communicate strength and complexity with elegance.

For me, one of the ambassadors for the style in Friuli.

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Making a wine dream real in Friuli

Tralci di Vita Vine

Back in Friuli Venezia Giulia, in the small town of Ronchis di Torreano, I recently visited the work from Massimo Causero and Maria Chiara at Tralci di Vita vineyards.

Didn’t I know that their great wine was coming paired with a great story.

In his own words, Massimo was born to be a country side man and wine has been in the cards for him since childhood. Recollecting a recent event, one of his primary school teachers came to him remembering a story that had already faded from his mind: a task was given in the class to draw your future profession. Instead of doctor, engineer or architect, Massimo sketched bottles of wine. Each one bearing the name of a teacher on the label.

A few decades later, Massimo would find himself owning and managing a vineyard of his own. That bottle went out of the paper and into the hands of curious wine tasters.

Getting started in the vineyard

Since that drawing in the childhood, there was a long road until Massimo’s first bottle became real.

After obtaining the enotechnical and later the enology diploma, he went through about 10 years’ of practice working with different producers. As the experience gathered in his head and in his hands, the will to use that knowledge to express his own style increased.

At a point in time the stars finally aligned and his preparation met with an opportunity.

In the small town of Torreano, an elder couple invited him to take over the vineyard. He would be able to make it shine once more as the age was putting challenges for the old couple to run the business. Massimo and Maria Chiara decided to cross through that opened door, leaving everything behind, moving to Torreano and grasping their dream.

Philosophy behind Tralci di Vita

Tralci di Vita has about 3 hectares, with 10 varietals distributed partly in a flat area and part on a south facing hill. The production is of nearly 7 thousand bottles altogether.

Part of the production is sold in bulk (sfuso) and part in bottles. The first is aimed at the retention of long time clients who were buying wine at the property for years, from the previous owner. The bottled portion is where Massimo and Maria Chiara began to explore the potential of the land, producing wines from selected parcels and evaluating the results. It’s a simple but straight forward approach to segmenting the clients and keeping the cash flow under control.

The philosophy of the production highlights the integrity of the grape. The work is concentrated in the vines so that minimum intervention is required in the cellar. Customized pruning techniques, adapted to each varietal, help the vines give their best into the grapes.

Tralci di Vita Bottle

Tasting Impressions

That philosophy is reflected in their style. The wines are delicate in the aroma and in the palate. The acidity is high, yet balanced with the structure, reflecting the colder weather of the area. Tannins are active but round, bringing life to the wine without being aggressive. The finishings are elegant but at the same time rustic. The signature ending notes of wild berries, slate and moist soil reminds you where the vines are located, and how the area smells like.

Some of their wines caught a bit more my attention. The Sauvignon Blanc, brings delicate white flowers and exotic fruit to the aromas despite the moderate to cold climate area. The Merlot is rich and boasts beautiful black cherries, dark chocolate, liquorice and the signature rustic closing of the Tralci di Vita vineyard.

Their Schiopettino was a great finding. Balanced from the start, presenting a wide range of spices in the palate and smoky tones, with cigar box and a bit of leather. This autoctonous grape had a strong decline during the late 19th and 20th centuries, it was saved from extinction in the 1970s and is now regaining the place among the local varietals it once had. That’s a similar story shared by Tazzelenghe, another jewel from the region.

According to Massimo, 10 years ago would be unthinkable to growth red grapes in the zone, especially thick skin ones such as Merlot. Climate change has created a warm pocket in the zone, opening for a potential that didn’t exist before.

Coming next to Tralci di Vita

Even if the vines are far from being young, ranging from 50 to 100 years old, it was actually the first vintage of Massimo and Maria Chiara at Tralci di Vita.

Their results are focused and makes me curious about what waits in the bottles in the next vintages.

Instead of fixing what is not working, the goal is to understand what are the strengths of the vineyard and excel on what is already great.

Having 10 grape varieties is a challenge to manage, especially during harvest. The different maturation times spreads the efforts between vineyard and the cellar for too long. The season last year went through 12 September until 28th October.

As the strengths from Tralci di Vita become transparent, the focus on quality would naturally impact their current segmentation. That would lead to an eventual reduction on sales of bulk wines and a gradual shift to the bottled selection.

Massimo and Maria Chiara said that their vision was to give people something of their own. A piece of their dedication, their dream, their work, their culture, a piece of their life… and that’s how the name “Tralci di Vita” came about.

By the time of this post, their website was still under construction. The way to reach out to them for a visit and for purchasing wine was either by email ([email protected]) or their Facebook page.

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Have you ever heard about Tazzelenghe?

Tazzelenghe

It’s been a few months since we started, together my father-in-law, a careful hunt for a nearly extinct wine from Friuli.

Tazzelenghe is an indigenous grape from the extreme northeast of Italy, and has made Friuli Venezia-Giulia its home.

Along with several other European varieties, Tazzelenghe was nearly extinct in the 1860s with the arrival of the phylloxera. The remaining vines got hit again years later by powdery and downy mildew. Then, if that was not enough, its cultivation became forbidden in the region because of commercial pressure and market demands. It was replaced back then for known and more commercially appealing varieties (such as Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon). Tazzelenghe didn’t have a particularly easy road, while trying to thrive in the region.

Over a century later, in the more recent 1980s, it regained some traction and was back in a few less known vineyards. Its introduction in the list of grapes allowed in the Colli Orientali del Friuli (DOC) and the patience of a few producers, has been supporting the slow return of this grape. Still, there were only about 80 hectares being cultivated in Italy in 2000, according to agricultural census.

Tazzelenghe (coming from “taglia lingua”) literally means “tongue cutting”. It got this fame because of its super high tannin and acidity profile. Proper love in the hands of a good wine maker can help unfold great aging potential, giving the wine a good development prospects in the bottle.

Thick black skinned grape, Tazzelenghe has a late ripening. Given the naturally high acidity, grape growers leave the harvest for the very end of the season. This not only makes the most of the phenolic maturation but also increases the chances of getting the acids at the lower end of the curve.

Tazzlengue is cultivated today in the province of Udine, mainly in the communes of Buttrio, Manzano e Cividale.

It can be used to create single variety wines, but it is often blended with minor parts of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon to facilitate achieving balance.

We found by chance in a restaurant, their last three bottles in the stock. Those were properly aged, ready to drink and we gladly took all of them home for our tasting session.

Tasting Notes

The wine we picked for this tasting was a Tazzelenghe from La Viarte. Vintage 2003 with 100% Tazzelenghe. It was a great finding as we were hoping to check the grape in purity, to understand its expression. Most often Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are blended in minor parts, as mentioned.

Grapes were macerated for 15 days, with fermentation between 25 and 28ºC. 12 months in new French oak barriques, resting for 30 months in the bottles before reaching the market.

The thing with opening anything older than 10 years (mental milestone for me) is that it’s really hard not to find yourself recalling how was your life back then… when the harvest that created that bottle in front of you was being done.

Feels like a ritual to me to go through that mental process, while gently taking the capsule out, working the screw through the cork and slowly pulling it out.

Look

Deep dark red, shifting to granate with some brick-coloring showing in the rim, giving away a bit of the development over the years. Even working on the decanting, there were minor fine sedimentation.

Nose

We let the wine decant for one hour, but it actually took nearly three hours for it to start waking up. The story it told was really exciting. It began with big and ripe Amarena bitter cherries, over ripe plums, some scattered red currant and a bit of papaya. Dark chocolate, licorice and baking spices following after.

Palate

It’s in the palate that the Tazzelenghe shows the traits that give its name. After 16 years in the bottle it sustained a bright freshness. Great attack with a clean finish. Tannins were big, round and mature. The wine aged well, the wood was well integrated in the work and the structured developed beautifully through the years. Bitter cherries, ripe plums and red currant confirmed in the palate. Balsamic notes showed up. The finishing was a reminder that it was grown in the Friuli, with a characteristic mineral signature and faint bitterness. Mouth watering minerality with wet slate and a bit of chalk.

The balsamic notes added to the long mineral finish, bring up the salivation. It kept me coming back to the board of pecorino romano cheese, taleggio and salami in front of us. A really wonderful pairing, with fat of the bites and acidity of the wine balancing each other.

Clean and elegant finish, with great persistence. Red currant and wet slate following until the end.

Tazzelenghe from La Viarte delivered in the legend of this indigenous grape.

A couple of other producers worth noting would include Conte d’Attimis Maniago  and Le Due Torri.