TIPICAMENTE FRIULANO Friuli Venezia Giulia Region at the

TIPICAMENTE FRIULANO
Friuli Venezia Giulia Region
at the
LONDON INTERNATIONAL WINE FAIR
17 - 19 MAY 2011
Tipicamente Friulano and the wines of Friuli Venezia Giulia will be presented from Tuesday 17 to Thursday
19 May 2011 at the London International Wine Fair 2011 in a collective coordinated by ERSA, the Regional
Agency for Rural Development of Friuli Venezia Giulia.
A dozen of wineries, representative of the regional territory, will hold the Friuli tasting desks (area B60 D60), there are also two common locations that will assemble the seven Friuli’s DOCs.
Inside the area there will be a tasting room for a total of 16 sites with a rich programme that will be attended
by experts, journalists, sommeliers that will be guided through the paths of sensory analysis of Friuli wines,
paired with some regional excellent-food: the San Daniele ham, the Montasio cheese.
Tipicamente Friulano is everything that this land, so generous and proud, can
generate. From its farmlands, mountains, seas. Every product grown and processed in
the farms and firms of this territory is Tipicamente Friulano. On top of that, Friuli
Venezia Giulia can also boast a food and agricultural heritage that is intact and
authentic, genuinely rich in history. In two words, Tipicamente Friulano.
Tasting Programme
FRIULI VENEZIA GIULIA, STAND B60 – D60
Tuesday 17th May
H 14.30: DOC Friuli Annia e Latisana
Wednesday 18th May
H 11.30: DOC Friuli Isonzo
H 14.00: DOC Colli Orientali of Friuli
H 16.00: Collio Bianco
Thursday 19th May
H 11.30: DOC Friuli Aquileia
H 14.00: DOC Friuli Grave
Servizio promozione, statistica agraria e marketing
Via Sabbatini 5 - 33050 Pozzuolo del Friuli (UD)
Tel. 0432.529219, fax. 0432.529202
A little history
Tocai Friulano, Hungarian Tokaji , Tokay d’Alsace, Sauvignonasse or Friulano?
The history of Tocai friulano is a rather complex one, and one that is easily confused with that of Hungary’s
Tokaj. According to some historical documents, it seems that the Tocai friulano variety was imported from
Friuli into Hungary at the time of the Kingdom of King Béla IV; other documents attest that the same king
called on Italian and French experts to produce a wine called “Furmint”, which is the name of the variety
most prevalent in Hungary’s Tokaji, which is a blend of different grape varieties. A third hypothesis is that in
1623 Aurora Formentini, a local noblewoman who married Count Batthyány and went to live in Hungary,
bringing along the grape variety typically grown in S. Floriano, also known at the time as Formint, that later
became associated with the name Tokaji, in taking the name of the area in which it had been planted.
In reality the origin of the Tocai friulano grape variety is very different and recent studies have finally shed
light on this subject. Beginning in the ’70s at the Enological school of Conegliano there began a clone
selection process of the variety which led to the realization that the Tocai friulano variety shared similarities
with the Sauvignon variety, something that had already been documented many decades earlier by other
luminaries who didn’t quite have the technological aid that modern day scientists can rely on. Subsequently,
Dna analysis revealed that the Tocai friulano variety is in fact the same as France’s Sauvignonasse, once very
common in the area of Bordeaux but now almost extinct form French soil. Sauvignonasse probably arrived
into Italy via imports from France, perhaps at the same time Sauvignon was also imported, at the time in the
mid XIXth century when the French varieties were being first imported into Friuli Venezia Giulia.
And clearly, Hungarian Tokaj and Friuli’s Friulano wines have nothing in common. Friulano is always a dry
wine, fresh and usually light, with a delicate aroma and flavours highly reminiscent of almonds; the
Hungarian version exists in many different styles and degrees of sweetness from dry (Szàraz) to off-dry
(éder), but is most famous, throughout history, for its intensely sweet, dessert-wine style version.
From Tocai to Friulano: what’s in a name?
In 1993, the European Community outlawed the use of the word Tocai beginning with the 2007 vintage for
all such wines made in Friuli, on the basis that the word Tocai is really too similar to “Tokaji”. In fact, France
had already stopped labelling its wines made with Pinot gris as Tokay d’Alsace. Interestingly, though the
Italian wine is now called simply Friulano, the name of the grape variety remains Tocai friulano.
Characteristics of the Tocai friulano grape variety
The cluster is semi compact, cylindrical, with one or most often two wings. The thin skinned berries are
round and contain generally two pips. It is a late ripening variety, and prefers dry soils that do not run too
deep, such as those in seven of Friuli’s DOCs:
Collio
Colli Orientali del Friuli
Friuli Annia
Friuli Aquileia
Friuli Grave
Servizio promozione, statistica agraria e marketing
Via Sabbatini 5 - 33050 Pozzuolo del Friuli (UD)
Tel. 0432.529219, fax. 0432.529202
Friuli Isonzo
Friuli Latisana
The wine
Friulano is most often drunk young and fresh, characterized by a pale straw yellow-green hue and a very
refined aroma and flavour profile. The aromas run from thyme to chamomile to hay, white flowers and
minerals. There is also often a hint of almond, which is usually much more evident on the palate, where
depending on the ripeness of the grapes the wine can taste of fresh white flowers but also of riper yellow and
tropical fruit.
It can also be oak aged, though care has to be taken not to allow the oak to dominate Friulano’s delicate
characteristics.
Wine and food
Friulano is perfect as an aperitif, and is in fact the wine that will be most often served in a tajut, Friuli’s
typical small trattoria glass. It is excellent on light antipasti and both vegetable and fish main courses, and of
course, oak aged versions can stand up to white meat as well. It’s food-match made in heaven though is
undoubtedly with prosciutto di San Daniele, as the acidity of the wine will delicately cleanse the fattiness of
the wonderfully sweet meat, and its almond notes will bring out the nuttiness of the prosciutto as well.
If you want to try it on the wonderful hearty local cuisine, then don’t miss out on a glass of Friulano with
“frico”, a fried cheese wedge that is heavenly, or with “cialsons” , the most famous of which are from the
Carnia sub-region of Friuli, ravioli styled pasta that can be filled with herbs or even plums and raisins,
depending if they are meant as a main course or as dessert. Last but not least of course, the region’s many
fish preparations, such as mussels, crab, or simple white fish … maybe fished right out of the lagoons of
Marano or Grado.
Servizio promozione, statistica agraria e marketing
Via Sabbatini 5 - 33050 Pozzuolo del Friuli (UD)
Tel. 0432.529219, fax. 0432.529202