Events

Friulian beauty by Vie di Romans
July 2005

Gianfranco Gallo visited Moscow at the beginning of July.

He represents a famous family winery of Friuli, Vie di Romans. His talk about Fruili turned into a captivating visual show about the area and the climate.

At present the authoritative status of Friuli is supported by quality white wines. Although their history counts hundreds of years, they entered the world market only 30 years ago.

Friuli became part of Italy after the First world war, before that it belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire of the Hapsburgs for 400 years. Friuli lies on the crossroads of the Latin and Slavic cultures and is influenced by both of them. The same trend is found in local wine. "The quality of wine is not an absolute idea, it cannot be globalised", announces Gianfranco Gallo. He rebukes international journalists in standardizing the taste of wine. "It is left out of focus that quality means diversity".

Friuli lies on the latitude of 45 degrees 54 minutes — along with Burgundy, the Caucasus and Oregon. The area is the junction of two climates, Mediterranean and continental. This is the most northern point of Europe where two climates collide in this manner. Through the continental climate wines get minerality and pronounced acidity. In the Mediterranean climate wines are riper, fattier, less acidic. When climates overlap, one gets two realities — mineral notes and ripeness. This is fundamental for terroir of Friuli and is the key to its individuality.

The winemaking zone of Isonzo river is situated 25 km from the sea and 35-40 km from the Alps. Particular for the region are fresh, cool, wet winds from the east. The valley was formed in the quaternary period. Moving down, the glaciers brought primary rock. There is a lot of gravel here , with the top alluvial layer. In section soils change from red to light coloured. They are poor with good drainage.

There are 4 DOC zones in Friuli, and the notion of crus, or single vineyards, is important. Vie di Romans has 40 hectares in Friuli Isonzo Rive Alte and produces 200,000 bottles annually. Vie di Romans specializes in white wines from Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Malvasia, Riesling, Tocai Friuliano. "My task is to transform grapes into wine with minimal interference", says Gallo.

When presenting Sauvignon Blanc wines — Pierre Sauvignon and Vieris Sauvignon — Gianfranco notes that "Sauvignon shouldn’t taste of anything damp. Herbs are the feature of the Loire Sauvignon. We get more ripe characters. They are apricots, white peaches and ripe grapefruit".

Wines from different plots are vinified differently. They use large stainless steel tanks for Pierre ("Stony"), 60% of wine undergoes malolactic fermentation, then it spends 8 months on the lees. Vieris ("Old") is vinified in barriques, maximum 10% of them are new.

Vie di Romans Sauvignons prove the greatness of the variety by graceful aging. "I am surprised that journalists talk only about young wines. Nobility of a wine shows only with time". Vieris Sauvignon 1994 is fresh, with a peculiar aroma of frankincense, minerality is in the foreground of the palate, fattiness succumbed to refinement, and the general impression is that of impeccable balance.

Gallo is full of praise for Chardonnay. "It is a great variety in terms of its expressiveness and ability to show the land". Vie di Romans Chardonnay 2002 is still young, with first development of tertiary notes, the most interesting of which is a note of white truffles.

Gianfranco Gallo makes Flors di Uis ("Grape flower" in the local dialect) cuvee from Malvasia, Rhine Riesling and Tocai Friuliano. "It depicts the story of Friuli", he says and continues, "I go beyond the terms of indigenous and imported varieties". Malvasia has grown in Friuli for a hundred years, and it came to Italy even earlier through Venetian merchants who brought it from Greece. Tocai has many similarities with Sauvignon, and Riesling appeared in the area through Austro-Hungarian empire. "My idea to unite three varieties is the attempt to complement the fruitiness of Malvasia and Tocai and spiciness of Malvasia and Riesling. This is a unique wine charged with qualities of all three varieties". With time young wines with lovely Muscat aromas and round, fatty palate change to petrolly, balsamic notes and soft minerals. It was showcased through the wines of 2003, 2001 and 1996 vintages.

Vie di Romans also produces red Vos dai Ciamps ("Voice of fields") with the dominance of Merlot. "We let go some of the red varieties and concentrated on Merlot as it ripens early. We take 3 bunches per vine, and we are still unsatisfied, so we cut off half a bunch". The wine features good fruit (cherries) and balsamic notes. It has a soft character and appealing, lingering finish.