Reviews

Picolit: a rising star
«Vinnaya Karta» №9 (90) November 2007

An autochthonous Italian grape variety is returning from oblivion and has good chances to join the line-up of the world’s best sweet wines.

Today there is hardly one percent of wine lovers who ever heard of the white Friulian grape Picolit. Yet, to say that Picolit has never seen fame means to distort its inspiring story when at the peak of popularity in the mid-18th century its sweet wines competed with the renowned Tokaji. They were served at princely, royal and imperial courts, including the Russian one, and in the papal residences.

Picolit’s resplendent rise to the wine Olympus 250 years is an example of in ingenious marketing strategy, still relevant today for the sales of luxury products. Count Fabio Asquini Fagagna documented in detail the production technology of a noble sweet wine in Friuli which was previously unknown on the export markets. He also devised a sales plan with clear positioning and defined distribution channels in Europe which proved to be a great commercial success. Picolit from Asquini di Fagagna was fermented after grapes were dried — partially on vine, partially in special rooms. Quality of the end product was controlled by a special tasting panel. Wine was bottled in hand-made Murano glass bottles. Exclusive distribution was given to a trading house with headquarters in Venice — the city which set many European trends and served as an important trade port. Wines were sold only to clients of the highest ranks. That’s why, having started from 14 bottles in 1758, sales soared to 4,700 bottles in 1777, and the prices were 29 times higher than average regional wine prices. Unfortunately, as the count’s life came to the end, his business wasn’t continued. Soon Picolit fell into oblivion and nearly disappeared during the phylloxera plague.

In the 20th century the grape witnesses slow revival which happened first of all thanks to the Perusini family. Professor Giacomo Perusini made a detailed researched and published “Il Piccolit” work in 1906. In the middle of the century his wife and son inspired interest among local winegrowers to cultivate the grape.

Today Picolit vineyards in Friuli are still limited and do not exceed 60-100 hectares on the total vineyard area of 2,100 hectares. Luckily, its superior status is finally recognized on an official level. Starting from 2006 vintage, Picolit dessert wines have the highest Italian quality status of DOCG.

What makes Picolit a noble, but such a rare variety? The main feature is an extremely low yield thanks to which Picolit probably received its name (from the Italian “piccolo” — little) and high quality potential. Yet, the small yields make a winegrower work hard. While a normal bunch consists of 30-100 berries, Picolit has no more than 30! An average yield is, accordingly, only 20-25 hectolitres per hectare. The reason for this is a particular morphology of vine’s flowers, most of which do not get pollinated and do not turn into berries. At the same time, Picolit vines are very vigorous and demand more care — that’s why the variety is not as popular on Friuli vineyards as other white grapes.

Still, Picolit is really capable of producing outstanding dessert wines. If it wasn’t the case, Count Asquini di Fagagna, even with all his commercial skill, wouldn’t have withstood competition from the Tokaji wines. Graceful elegance, defined freshness, a fine floral and fruity bouquet which with time puts accent on honey and crème brulee, soft minerality — these are the features of a good Picolit. Wines certainly have a nice and long evolution thanks to high levels of acidity and sugar. Luigi Veronelli, a great authority on the Italian wine scene, noted half a century ago, “I don’t believe that there is in Italy a more noble wine than this. It was an authentic gem of Friulian enology…; it could be the pride of all our enology if only we could successfully establish its culture and vinification. Its qualities would make it for Italy, that which Chateau d’Yquem is for France”.

Recent introduction of a zone which is formally known as Colli Orientali del Friuli Picolit DOCG leads not only to the deserved recognition of the grape, but to systematization of winemaking practices. Maximum yields are allowed at 4 tonnes, wine output from grapes should not exceed 55%. The rules stipulate that wine can have 85-100% of Picolit, with addition of no more than 15% of other allowed white grapes. The wine is released on the market after 1 September of the year following the vintage.

While technical parameters are now standardized, the issue of uniformity of vinification methods and wine styles remains open. The topic caused a lot of discussion at a recent October en primeur tasting organized by the Consortium of Colli Orientali del Friuli. Twenty nine samples of 2006 vintage were offered for assessment to the Italian and international experts. Even in such a relatively small lineup (about 50 producers make sweet Picolit wines in total) there was room for at least 4-5 styles. There were light in colour and style, refreshing wines with low sugar content, as well as amber-coloured, concentrated, at times heavy samples made in oxidative style. Some had not always ripe grapes, in others an evident presence of botrytis was felt. The barrel influence, as well as aging periods, varied greatly. Some producers plan to release wines in November-December 2007, while others will leave wines in their cellars until 2010.

According to the leading French wine critic Bernard Burtschy, there are at least three factors which contribute to such a wide range of styles. Firstly, the dates of harvest picking. The difference between the start and the end date is up to 6 weeks which is too long, believes Burtschy. The time to put harvest into boxes varies from 0 to 2 months which again influences the character of wine. Finally, the sugar content in wines by various producers is between 13 and 320 grammes — this is too much again!

Such heterogeneity causes serious problems for consumers as they cannot foresee which style they will get when buying an unknown bottle. On the other hand, Andrea Felluga from a reputed estate Livio Felluga notes that “producers should worry not about the styles, but about how to preserve Picolit’s characteristics in the wine”.

Friulian producers who work with Picolit are standing at the beginning of a new and important educational process which will hopefully bring them to a more defined style of wines. Nonetheless, the quality level of certain wines is very encouraging. Luigi Veronelli was absolutely right when he spoke about Picolit’s great potential. At least 5-7 producers are making wine at the world class level. If further consolidation of quality and styles is successful, Picolit will undoubtedly enter the niche of prestigious sweet wines of the world — which today includes the Sauternes, the late harvested Rieslings and the Tokaji.